I wrote about the Gaslight Anthem a while back and I included a link to their relatively low budget video for "I'da Called You Woody, Joe." The song is a touching and fitting tribute to the late Joe Strummer. Brian Fallon's weathered vocals have this hauntingly beautiful and forlorn quality about them and they sound like how a lonely night feels. When his subject matter is at all compelling, it's hard for me not to feel some emotional connection. It was especially easy with a song about a musical hero.

Late Night Wallflower posted a video for "The '59 Sound," the title track off the new Gaslight Anthem album, earlier today. I think the album, the band's sophomore effort, is noticeably sadder than their successful debut, which is an interesting progression for a band to follow. It somehow makes the melancholy seem more sincere and not something easily cured by recognition. The album suffers from the same song writing limitations displayed throughout their catalogue, but the group provides more variation this time around and I think the Bad Religion defense applies here: if the formula works, don't change it. That being, some of the group's new highlights are as masterfully crafted and breathtakingly sweet and wounded as any song in the genre.

I'm especially excited about this album but it's too new for me to really articulate it. The problem is, I like it too much to not talk about it. Thus, this blurb will have to do.

Oh well.