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...according to our Dave on Thu 01 Dec, 2011.
More explorations in pop by these leftfield Texans. This is WD's third album, which by all accounts is one of their most eclectic, yet strangely accessible records in their canon. It has a touch of many a classic American rock album, or mebbe I should say that songs on this LP are very much rooted in classic songwriting bands (Beach Boys, The Byrds) with a verve all of their own. It's a home studio recording but it has a really lush production, and is the last WD album that was recorded at Josh Block's (White Denim tub thumper and occasional male prostitute) home studio. They recorded this album in one month, and it was meant to be the last album, then White Denim's members were all meant to have a bit of a rest up and mebbe get regular day jobs...but this album was so well received by fans and tastemakers alike that its relative success prolonged the band and got them where they are today...at a service station just outside Droitwich (probably). Last Day...is a varied and subtle listen, that as mentioned earlier it reminds me of The Beach Boys (especially on tracks like the chiming, pushing “Home Together”) and the soulful overbearing pomposity of “If You're Changing” which is a rather nice blues song. It has some jazzier moments (such as the sax-led 'Light Light Light') which has a loose feel that is quite interesting. This LP is a record that is full of variety and charm and quality song writing. Not fucking bad.
Between 2009’s acclaimed sophomore set Fits and this year’s, er, acclaimed D, Austin trio White Denim got thirty three per cent bigger, played plenty of shows and recorded another album. And then gave it away to anyone who cared to download it, financial appreciation welcomed.
Last Day of Summer is unique in the Texan explorers’ catalogue. Rather than the result of long experimentation and their usual casually eclectic approach (typified by their much admired mixtapes), enforced restrictions offered new possibilities. The last White Denim record made at drummer Josh Block’s home studio, it also marked second guitarist Austin Jenkins’s initiation as a full time member.
In singer/guitarist James Petralli’s words, “It represented a final opportunity to make a record in our own space on our own terms. We were also fully aware that because of typical recording industry practices, this record would have little to no chance of receiving a typical release. With that liberating truth in our minds, we resolved ourselves to completing Last Day of Summer in one month. After the completion of the record we all planned to go out and get day jobs, the band once again becoming a weekend project.”
As we now know, the reaction was so positive that generous supporters helped sustain the band. Since then the expansive D has become their most widely admired release. Petralli though has always described it as their fourth album, which must make Last Day the third.
It’s noticeably different in approach from their other offerings nonetheless. There are obvious highlights such as the chiming, always pushing ‘Home Together’, maybe the most original recasting of the Beach Boys’ sound that any American band has produced in years, Steve Terebecki’s bassline timeless yet very much his own. The soulful live fave ‘Tony Fatti’, the gently epic, almost bluesy ‘If You’re Changing’ and ‘Some Wild Going Outward’, a playful horse opera quietly reminiscent of the Byrds’ great ‘Chestnut Mare’, with its stinging guitar lines and galloping drums. Elsewhere elegant jazz-inflected instrumentals like ‘Incavaglia’ & ‘Light Light Light (featuring a great sax turn from Alex Coke), the closing vignette ‘Walk a Line’ and a reworking of ‘I’d Have It Just the Way We Were’ from Fits stand out. But the unifying theme is looseness, an aural snapshot of a band fully at ease. No wonder Petralli thinks it contains “some of our best performances and material.” And we haven’t even mentioned the R&B-flecked ‘Shy Billy...
As he says, “It effectively represents a band of reasonable adults dedicating themselves to a seemingly unreasonable cause. I think that we were able to make a fun and optimistic record in a personally difficult time. I listened to this record recently, and still love it. I’m thrilled that more people will get a chance to hear this music.”
The widely admired D is perhaps easier to ‘get’, but this is the collection that made it possible. It will be made available exclusively in the UK in a limited run including just 500 vinyl copies. This is the first time Last Day of Summer has appeared in physical format anywhere.
1. I'd Have It Just The Way We Were 2. Home Together 3. Tony Fatti 4. If You're Changing 5. Incaviglia 6. Light Light Light 7. Some Wild Going Outward 8. Champ 9. Shy Billy 10. Our Get 11. Through Your Windows 12. New Coat
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