The Hold Steady “Boys and Girls in America” VAGRANT
RECORDS (Out of 5)
When The Hold Steady played at UCLA last year, frontman Craig
Finn took advantage of the university setting to remind the crowd
of his college major ““ English. He then proceeded to show
that his studies had not gone to waste as he led the smartest
barroom rock band in the country through one literary banger after
another. The set was mostly comprised of songs from
“Separation Sunday,” last year’s epic story of
rock ‘n’ roll redemption that was notable as much for
its quirky use of biblical allusions as it was for its crushing
guitar solos. On “Boys and Girls in America,” The Hold
Steady’s new album, Finn eschews a sweeping narrative and
recurring characters in order to focus more on a general theme:
specifically, the thrills, confusion, sadness and frequent
intoxication of young lovers in the U.S. Without sacrificing the
band’s trademark big sound, Finn takes listeners to the
out-of-the-way locales that are the breeding ground for potential
breeders ““ for example, the “chillout tent” of
the song of the same name, where a brief but profound connection
occurs between two teenagers who took too many drugs at a concert.
And although his stories are of a smaller scale than in his
previous work, Finn is as evocative a lyricist as ever (take this
excerpt from “Massive Nights”: “The dance floor
was crowded / The bathrooms were worse / We kissed in your car and
we drank from your purse.”) “Boys and Girls in
America” is meant to tug at the heartstrings at least a
little bit. In order to accomplish this musically, the band
includes more dramatic pauses and more reflective piano melodies
than on “Separation Sunday,” and Finn, who on past
albums had a tendency to recite his verses, does more actual
singing. But this is not to say that The Hold Steady has lost its
signature tautness and presence. On the contrary, “Boys and
Girls in America” absolutely brims with confidence, precision
and, above all, soul. Take, for example, the end of the album
opener “Stuck Between Stations,” where from near
silence a lone piano searches out a crescendo of huge guitar
chords, with Finn’s raw voice fitting perfectly into the
carefully constructed din. One need look no further than the song
“Hot Soft Light” to see why The Hold Steady deserves to
stand alone ““ more fun than Springsteen, smarter than any
classic rock band and better than anyone at telling stories. Over
fat guitar chords filled in by insistent piano lines, Finn sings
“It started recreational / It ended kinda medical / It came
on hot and soft and then it tightened up its tentacles.”
He’s talking about a dependence that could just as easily be
on another person as on a drug and set as he is against a musical
backdrop so soulful and earnest, there’s no reason not to
believe him either way.