Wednesday 18 August 2010



Me vs the Devil

QBiM SPiNS: Baby Eagle Dog Weather

I’ve been a miserable little bastard this week.  I can’t pin it on any one particular event or reason.  It just sort of feels like my mood has been rolling downhill, growing bigger as it picks up litter and debris as it tumbles further and faster down a steep incline.  Maybe that’s more information than you need to know (or actually care about), but when I heard “Day of Our Departing”, the opening track of the new Baby Eagle record Dog Weather, it felt like my rolling ball of muddy moodiness hit a plateau level and slowed down a bit.  It opens with a  bit of screeching feedback, a sound akin to squealing breaks, before erupting into a ramshackle blast of dirty, bluesy rock that stopped me in my tracks.  The pleading phrase “Darling let’s come clean,” in the chorus is a request to just stop beating a dead horse and declare a relationship over, and move on with life.  My egotistical side felt like the song was directed right at me and my self-pity.  “Get over yourself,” it seemed to say, “there’s people worse off than you and they’re not letting it get them down.”  True enough.  Going deeper into the record reveals more hard-done-by stories where the protagonist doesn’t succumb to defeat so much as shrug it off tries to make the best of what’s he’s been given.

Steve Lambke might be better known as a guitarist/keyboardist and vocalist with Constantines, but seeing as how they recently announced an indefinite hiatus, he’ll be focusing on Baby Eagle a lot more.  That’s okay, because Dog Weather is going to keep Lambke busy for a long while to come.  Preferring not to call Baby Eagle a solo project but a collaboration, Daniel Romano (Attack in Black), Shotgun Jimmie, and David Trenaman and Colleen Collins (Construction & Destruction) all came together to work on Lambke’s songs for a few days this past January.  The result is a sometimes messy, often melodic homage to Lambke’s feedback-drenched indie roots and his affinity for classic songwriters like Neil Young.

Lambke and Romano are co-owner/operators of You’ve Changed Records, and Dog Weather is just the latest addition to a stellar catalogue.  The roster on You’ve Changed take their label’s name to heart, as they swap roles and support each other on record.  The only thing that doesn’t change from record to record is the outstanding quality the label produces.

Dog Weather is available now from You’ve Changed Records.

MP3: Baby Eagle “Day of Our Departing”
Myspace: Baby Eagle





by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

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