The latest release by Minnesotan four-piece Pert Near Sandstone is brimming with vitality, but goes a little too easy on the words.
The Minnesota veteran four-piece Pert Near Sandstone are back with yet another release: Side by Side, their 9th studio album, independently recorded and co-produced by the band along with Ryan Young from Duluth-based Trampled by Turtles.
The first track, Pipe Dream starts us off with a buoyant, infectious fiddle, solidly setting the scene. The fact that all four members are songwriters quickly throws a little variety into a mixture that nevertheless feels tight and cohesive: throughout the rest of the album we go from the celtic, Pogues-tinged single Side by Side to the mandolin-infused bluegrass sounds of Shooting Star and the throwback country stylings of Last Call Man.
It is no surprise that, as noted by the band, the songs were arranged for maximum effect as live performances: the recordings feature no more, no less than what the band can provide live. And indeed the upbeat pace and live feel of the album gives off a joyful energy that comes through despite occasional lyrical jars: words that don’t quite seem to fit where they fall as the band wends its way through subjects such as hope, salvation and boundless optimism.
The absolute walloper that is bluegrass instrumental Chuck Will’s Widow makes it abundantly clear to anyone that this band can and will tear the room down, pack it up and take it with them. As yet another case-in-point, the album closes with Sonnyboy, whose subject “plays that fiddle like a toy”, and yes, we hear a fiddle good enough to raise the dead and keep them raving: we just crave words we can hold on to.
It’s hard times in Minnesota, Minneapolis to be precise, and hard days to put your words where your optimism is. But after more than two decades, Pert Near Sandstone certainly aren’t lacking in the latter — nor in musicianship.
