MAY 2009 ONLINE EDITORIALS

The Digger Trends - Strange Couples

album cover

By Nathan Harper

The Digger Trends have two modes of songwriting: average and inspired. When they really feel like they have something to say, that energy shines through in the music as well as lyrics, but when the ideas underpinning their songs are less than heartfelt the whole song suffers because of it.

The opening track is a good example of their muses speaking loudly, and the band gets the very most out of their stripped down, Albini-esqe sound. The approach on this record is straight-up rock’n’roll, so when the handful of tracks that aren’t just absolutely punchy come along, there’s no studio gloss to obscure their enervated feel.

Which isn’t to say I dislike their no-fi production. On the contrary, when it comes to record production I believe Occam’s razor is just as viable in the studio as it is in the food chain – keep trickery to a minimum unless it serves a purpose. Of course this being the Boulder band’s debut, it might be Spartan by way of circumstance rather than choice, but still there’s an honesty to their sound that serves the music well.

Lyrically, The Digger Trends draw inspiration from classic blues themes like shootin’ your down, and musically they might be compare to a gentler Shellac, which stands out favorably in the robot voice era. And so with their amps cranked and the drums driving, they deliver a rocker that’s consistent if not always great, but when the band is felling it, you will be too.
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