Austin Sound

Is it too late to pick an album of the year for 2009? Or maybe is it too early to pick an album of the year for 2010? Logan, The Gary’s followup to their amazing debut EP Chub, was released digitally in late 2009, but on CD this month. Fortunately, the album is so good and so relentlessly compelling, it’ll be impossible to forget come well into next year.

Another stunning work of Minutemen-esque brevity and wit, Logan clocks in at just under a half an hour. The perfect mixture of Dave Norwood’s guttural yelps and Trey Pool’s metallic guitar twists, Logan sees the world of Chub and raises - perhaps all in. If possible, The Gary sound even more sure of themselves than they did on their debut, stretching out a handful of songs, but carefully reigning things in before the hooks’ sheen get dulled by repetition.

On churning spirited rockers, like the album opener “QSB” and “(Eyes In The) Tap Room,” the band ever so slightly nudges itself towards the mainstream. With an infectious pumping chord progression, “QSB” roars with obvious homage to late 80s indie rock. Norwood’s imploring shouts of “We lose ourselves/ Don’t lose yourselves” sounds like the rallying cry from the bottom of a case of cold ones. “(Eyes In The) Tap Room” unleashes The Gary’s inner demons; a tale of barroom disgust, distrust, and dismissal, Pool’s guitar work and Paul Warner’s drums rage war with Norwood’s bark and tales of the bottle. The Gary are singing songs that so many have sung to themselves.

Enjoyably, The Gary prove themselves to be more than a one-trick pony on Logan. With “Hurricane Radio,” the band turns it down a notch and slows the pace briefly. Norwood, for at least one song, sounds resigned and defeated, seemingly propped up in the corner, swaying at the mic, singing out, “Do you read me?/ Is this a vague broadcast?” into the slow trot of “False Sunrise’s” continued darkness. Showing a maturity the belies their short existence as a band, “False Sunrise” builds cautiously and steadily, instead of tossing The Gary immediately back into the frenzied throes.

So, the question remains after ten songs and thirty minutes: is it too early to declare Logan anything other than a fantastic album? Possibly, but probably not. What The Gary’s first full-length album is is an undisputedly tight, exuberant chunk of rock. Check back in a year and Logan is likely to be in a lot of ‘best-of’ lists, CD collections, and mp3 players.

Websites:
www.thegary.com
Myspace