Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles

Album Review

With his high, nasally voice and predilection for warm country-inspired chords, it's easy to compare Langhorne Slim to Neil Young, but his tendency to sing long, run-on, and often non-rhyming sentences in fact puts him nearer to the Bob Dylan school of performance. Musically, Langhorne Slim draws from country, folk, and pop, with plenty of major chords and strummed acoustic guitar. It's uncomplicated but that's excusable: folk music, or neo-folk, doesn't need to be overly complex; the instrumentals can serve their purpose if they provide a suitable background and complement to the vocalist. And although Slim's lyrics sometimes suffer from a lack of innovation and an inflated sense of profundity, he's a capable, even emotive, singer. "Restless" is nicely minor and introspective, and the simplicity of "Oh Honey" actually works quite well.