OLD WOUNDS BY YOUNG WIDOWS

Arriving two years after their debut, Settle Down City, Old Wounds completes Young Widows' transformation into a top-shelf rock band firing on all cylinders. Forging the best parts of Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Fugazi and The Melvins, Old Wounds is a series of dynamic, thoughtful tunes anchored by cavernous grooves that will certainly push most speakers to their breaking point. For the unique production, the band reunited with uber-producer friend Kurt Ballou, who had been eager to experiment with recording the band in multiple environments, with the intent of capturing the definitive take of each song for the final cut of the album. Feeling most at home when they're not at home, they brought Ballou along on tour to record all of their live shows. After tediously combing through a dozen hours of recordings, they compiled and mixed the album. The result is a bonafide classic, overflowing with the sweaty euphoria of a great live show, and the high replay value of a perfectly sequenced, well-produced rock record.

SETTLE DOWN CITY

The DC/Chicago/Louisville connection has been long-standing triangle of similar ideas, ethics and sounds, and Louisville, Kentucky’s Young Widows keep that spirit alive. From the reverb-drenched inspiration of the Regulator Watts/Hoover family to the bass and drums lock-groove perfected by Shellac and the Jesus Lizard, Young Widows gladly wears influences on its sleeve (their song “Glad He Ate Her” even gives a knowing wink to the Jesus Lizard’s “Gladiator”). Of course, the inventive guitar work, a signature of guitarist/vocalist Evan Patterson’s bands throughout his years in Breather Resist, Black Cross and The National Acrobat, is still intact and at its peak here. The rhythm section of bassist Nick Thieneman and drummer Geoff Paton (also both former members of Breather Resist) lays down syrup-thick grooves, recalling the best of the ‘90s output from the Northeast U.S. (think Melvins, Karp, and maybe even Nirvana), and at times even British post-punk, ala Gang Of Four… But, hell, we don’t want to go too far… It’s basically solid, grooving, hypnotic, heavy noise-rock… The comparisons are for reference only. This is a new band, a new sound, a new idea: Young Widows.