Sin City - Album Review: Welcome to Sin City
Here we have the full-length debut from Sin
City, a duo formed around Jack Beesley and Nick Armstrong, who here have
combined with producer Delaney Davidson on bass, John Segovia on lap steel
and Alistair Deverick (Boycrush) on drums. Jack and Nick are probably best-known
for their antics with garage punk rockers The Cavemen, and it was after that
band’s world tour in 2019 that they relocated to Spain and knocked out about
100 songs. On returning to Auckland, they joined forces with Delaney who helped
them knock that list down to 13 and then brought in some additional musicians
to help them record their vision.
The result is an album which is drenched in old-fashioned good-time rock and roll, with stacks of country, soul and 70’s rock bands all messed up together to create something which is genuinely a load of fun. Most of the photos I have seen of them also has them holding glasses of beer (which are getting emptier in each shot) and that sums up this record, as it is music to enjoy, and the more you drink the better it gets until we are all joining in on the choruses. It veers between Bob Seger, Johnny Cash, The Faces, and somehow manages to mix in “straight” numbers with those which are more raucous and the more this is played the better it gets.
It is obvious that Jack and Nick are having a blast with this, and even the album cover makes one think of albums from 50 years ago, and the result is something which truly does not pander to any fashion or pigeonhole, but instead is about two guys doing what feels right. So, we can get slowed down numbers such as Hold On Little Girl which is steeped in sleazy blues, or we can get upbeat songs such as Bandit Of Love with wonderful honky tonk piano (they mess up the beginning of this, so just restart and kick it off again straight away, then kept the mistake on the album which makes me smile). This is honest music, from guys who apparently feel there is nothing wrong with wearing stetsons in Auckland, and why not?
This is an album which is old-fashioned in many ways, from the style of the songs even through to the length (39 minutes – a great fit for the TDK D-90 cassettes we all used in the Seventies), and it is designed to ensure the listener has a smile on their face by the end. Of course, if there is a good beer to hand then that smile will be so much wider. Too many musicians take themselves deadly seriously these days, but this album is all about having a good time, and that is damn fine by me.
About Sin City
Originally hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, band-mates Jack Beesley and Nick Armstrong (The Cavemen), found themselves sharing a squalid room in the town of Alicante and spent several months writing songs inspired by their mutual love for outlaw country, barroom soul and rock ’n’ roll.
From Marty Robbins to Mink Deville, Glen Campbell to Gram Parsons and Bobbie Gentry to Bruce Springsteen, they draw their roots from a gumbo of 60's & 70's country-soul Americana. With these influences worn firmly on their sleeves, Sin City weave their own stories of drunken heartbreak, road-worn revelry and cowboy tinged murder-balladry into these classic forms.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Sin City
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