Retro country wrapped up in a shiny modern coating. Good time music for summer listening.
The press release which came with Mackenzie Roark’s second album tells us, “after years of working her way into prominence in Richmond’s thriving music scene as a solo artist and as part of many other bands, Mackenzie Roark formed her own band the Hotpants in 2023 to bring her songs to life in a live setting”. And the thing that strikes you immediately is the live feel of the first song, ‘Take My Money.’ A mix of contemporary country with Springsteen style “heartland rock,” it blasts along in the way a side one track one should do, drawing you in to want more. Cooling the pace down with a vaguely Tex-Mex introduction is ‘Late Bloomer.’ The fiddle adds something different to a tune, which settles into modern country territory quickly. The scratchy guitar solo on ‘Rich Man’ ups the gritty quota of an otherwise fairly bland song.
Where they do stretch themselves out a bit, as on ‘Last Call’ which starts with a funkier beat, and the fiddle is allowed off its leash to swoop and swirl a bit the Hotpants are clearly a band with something to offer, there’s just too much playing it safe elsewhere, on ‘Hot American Red Blood’ for instance. This is still a very listenable album; in the car on a sunny day, it’s exactly what you need—good fun sing-along stuff.
The album does pick up nicely later on as well, with the safer material loaded into the front end and what feels like music they want to play kept for deeper into the record. ‘Cigarettes and TV Dinners’ bounces along very pleasantly, ‘Killin’ Time’ is one of those country songs which has been roughened up just enough, and the title song drives along on a big drum beat and fiddle. For some reason, the song ‘Ghost of Rock and Roll’ is missing from the Bandcamp version of the album, so you’ll have to buy the single as well. You will want to do that as it’s the best song on the album.
“Ghost of Rock and Roll” closes with the honky tonk sound of ‘Broken Jukebox Blues.’ In interviews, Roark has said that she had set the intention for the record of “modernising retro sounds and aesthetics.” You can see where she is coming from, but the temptation to produce more radio-ready songs was clearly too much in places, and you can also see where the rough edges have been smoothed over. In the right setting (the aforementioned car on a sunny day), this is the right album to play. It’s maybe best not to sit down and analyse it too closely, however. But not all music has to be innovative and challenging; sometimes you just need to fill the space with songs that are simply the soundtrack of a bit of fun.
