Readyville

Album Review

Whatever else you have to say about Readyville's debut album, Nick Palatucci is clearly one intense guy. Readyville consist of Palatucci on acoustic guitar and vocals and Eoin Galvin on electric guitar, bass, lap steel, and bass, and despite the band's skeletal lineup, Palatucci's vocals are enough to fill nearly any room all by themselves. His slightly strangled tenor sound like the voice of a man whose head is about to explode with his many ideas and grievances, and even when the duo plays one of its slower, more contemplative numbers like "Do Me a Favor" or "Anne," you can't help but wonder if the poor guy is going to blow a gasket while he lets loose some burst of angst about former lovers, emotional dislocation, alcohol, and the many annoyances of day-to-day living. Readyville's stripped-down approach is more folk than rock & roll, but the group's attack is scrappy enough to pass for punk (Palatucci and Galvin were previously members of the West Coast punk outfit the B-Sides) and the rough-hewn sound of these performances more than suits their dour lyrical perspective, which is the ideal fit for Palatucci's vocal style. Among the many bands who've borrowed ideas and frameworks from folk and country, Readyville are one of the few who don't sound as if they have any nostalgia for the good old days; on this album, Palatucci and Galvin make California in the 21st century sound as damaged and desperate as anything from the darkest days of the Great Depression, and this music wouldn't sound at all out of place being played by an angry Bonus Marcher sitting by a tiny campfire at some lonesome Hooverville.