( MORE: Steven Tyler Talks Dogs, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll)įallon started working on this record after finishing up with his side-project, The Horrible Crowes. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll record through and through. “45” sees The Gaslight Anthem returning to the punk rock speed of its early album however, the band only occasionally mines that sound on Handwritten. Handwritten’s opening track “45” uses the act of flipping a record over as a metaphor for perseverance. Songs about those who listen to music (and those who make it) have been a running theme throughout Fallon’s career. Or at least that’s what I told myself as rationalization for how ridiculously sappy I was being. Very melodramatic in hindsight, but Fallon knew my melancholy he knew my pain. “With this pen, I thee wed/From my heart to your distress,” Fallon sings on title track “Handwritten.” He takes me back to that summer: I’m driving at night listening to The ’59 Sound, projecting myself onto the lyrics while yearning for a girl who moved away after I irrationally fell for her. In a Gaslight Anthem song, we become endearing anti-heroes, damsels, and hopeless lovers. He romanticizes the lives of everyday people by seeing past our banalities. They sang about us-the common folk trudging through life. What is it about Fallon’s songs that connects with people? Well, what was it about Springsteen’s songs that connected with people? Mellencamp’s? Westerberg’s? Following the release of their previous album, American Slang, New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem amassed a fanbase so large that label SideOneDummy could no longer accommodate the band, so they made the jump to major label Mercury for Handwritten. Glamorous, song-worthy tragedies befall these characters, and although my paltry tragedies of the summer of 2010 would have made one boring-ass song, The ’59 Sound hit home for me. Tales of small-town love and lust, Brian Fallon’s lyrics make protagonists out of regular chicks and dudes. It was an emotional time for me, and The Gaslight Anthem provided the soundtrack. I discovered The ’59 Sound in the summer of 2010, the same summer I discovered alcohol, drugs and heartbreak. And when the lyrics hit, they burn their way into your soul, as when Fallon bellows on “Biloxi Parish,” “I’ve found that nothing truly matters that you cannot find for free/I love you more than I can tell you, and when you pass through from this world/I hope you ask to take me with you that I will not have to wait too long.Follow post is in partnership with Consequence of Sound, an online music publication devoted to the ever growing and always thriving worldwide music scene. The Gaslight Anthem still recognizes bruises but become survivors to admire. Fallon calls the record “Tom Petty songs played by Pearl Jam,” and I won’t argue with that. The band has never sounded more confident-honest and still inspired by rock trailblazers but no longer necessitating a nod to the Boss. The words don’t always earn the attention of the music. Moving closer “National Anthem,” however, may turn you all into weeping wrecks. From killer first single “45” to the stomping “Mulholland Drive,” these big songs bridge the gap between arena scale and intimacy, the sort of tunes that bond you to the thousands of other people rocking nearby. Fortunately, “Handwritten” still boasts a constant stream of catchiness against singer/guitarist Brian Fallon’s sincere, gravelly vocals. Following 2010’s great “American Slang,” the New Jersey quartet teams up with producer Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, AC/DC) for its fourth full-length, perhaps to escalate its barroom tales to stadium-sized grandeur. Outside of the likewise stellar Japandroids, the Gaslight Anthem currently carries the torch for music fans who want to pump their fists and sing along with choruses and feel the blood of rock ‘n’ roll pulsing through their veins.
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