Bass Drum of Death – Say I Won't
John Barrett swaps the big city for home comforts on Bass Drum of Death's new album, and makes his biggest swing for the mainstream yet
For this first Bass Drum of Death album in over four years, the group’s mastermind John Barrett appears to have hit the reset button, with a pandemic-inspired move from his longtime base of New York City back to his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, ultimately laying the groundwork for a fresh creative start.
If 2018’s Just Business suggested that the well had run dry for Barrett in the Big Apple, then Say I Won’t represents a reconnection with the signature blend of garage rock and power pop that lit up their 2011 debut GB City. Their last album’s only partially successful stylistic wanderlust is swapped out for a wholesale return to breezy melody and riff-driven guitar stomp, with Patrick Carney of The Black Keys drafted in behind the desk to lend a sprinkling of the kind of polished production that we’ve come to expect from his own band since El Camino.
Barrett’s decision to record with a live band, rather than handle everything himself, pays dividends on the strutting likes of No Soul and Keys to the City, both of which burn with the energy of the road. Lead single Say Your Prayers sees Mike Kerr of Royal Blood on hand for a feature that taps into the moodier early days of his own outfit. Head Change, meanwhile, nods more directly to classic rock than Barrett ever has before, and in doing so proves that there’s room to break new ground on an album largely preoccupied with zeroing in on the established strengths of Bass Drum of Death. Barrett has moved away from the big city, but small-town living has inspired his most accessible work to date.
Listen to: Keys to the City, No Soul