This one comes bursting out the speakers nicely before settling into a groove and rocking out, adding a wonderfully soul-touched vocal and some wonderfully toned thrusting guitars. It’s a song whose insistent rhythm and refrain certainly make you sit up and take notice and the vocal of frontwoman Lee La Baum hints at more dynamics to come.
Indeed there’s a real retro Hard Rock feel to Montreal’s The Damn Truth’s third long player ‘Now or Nowhere,’ released on May 7th, that makes you sit up and wonder why you’ve not heard of them previously. Having six of the nine tracks produced by the legendary Bob Rock also tends to pique the interest (they were unable to have him produce the other three due to Covid so the band self-produced).
The press release pencils in more of the backstory: “The Damn Truth have extensively toured Europe and the United States, opened tours for ZZ Top (and partied with Billy Gibbons in his pyjamas), the Sheepdogs, Styx, and Rival Sons, sold out the legendary Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, sold out the Corona Theatre in their hometown of Montreal, and even had one of their videos featured on the official Janis Joplin Facebook page. It’s a culmination of a lot of blood, sweat and tears that’s come fruition with ‘Now or Nowhere’.”
Getting back to the record you find yourself falling in love pretty early on – first the arena-sized Bluesy hard rock of ‘Tomorrow’ gets you singing along before the huge sounds of ‘Only Love’ (an instant classic) take on an almost Jefferson Airplane groove and drive (man those guitars!). Not allowing you any respite ‘Lonely’ creeps in and wraps you up in its wonderful melodies which are punctuated with dark verses on the back of sweet stabs of guitar, before we descend into some real soulful vocals and hear what we thought all along – that Baum really does have a magnificent voice.
Part of the charm certainly comes from the feel of the record which was largely recorded by Bob “live off the floor, in keeping with the band’s ‘70s rock roots“. It works. The other factor is that these are all beautifully crafted songs!
At the half was point comes the acoustic-led ‘Everything Fades’ which displays a wonderful vulnerability and is washed with wonderful ‘blue sky’ melodies; whilst the sinuous heavy groove of ‘The Fire’ is another wonderful burst of passionate vocals and simmer and sizzle guitars. ‘Look Innocent ‘ that follows is a cool as fuck, emotion dripping demi-ballad build on a bed of wailing guitars and a wonderful lyric that tips these guys into classic territory.
We draw closer to the end of what has been a monumental ride with the wonderful ‘Full on You’ – another with a real 70’s rock heart and another that doesn’t set a foot wrong. The album comes to a climax with the quietest song on the record, or so you’re tempted to think as Lee La lays down a gentle vocal against some light orchestration, but the guitars and the build are never far away and crash in to punctuate this one like waves, ‘Shot ‘Em’ is a powerful and moving way to leave us hanging. What a truly wonderful band!
I think this has to be my favourite album of the year. This is glorious stuff. I still have goosebumps! I’ll leave you with one of the lines from the press release that really resonated “In so many ways, a rock ‘n’ roll tribe of love and community is something we can all be a part of, right here, right now.” Amen to that.
This album could do for 2021 what The Black Crowes ‘Shake Your Moneymaker’ did for 1990.
9 / 10
TRACKLIST: 1. THIS IS WHO WE ARE NOW (4:06) | 2. TOMORROW (4:27) | 3. ONLY LOVE (2:46) | 4. LONELY (4:43) | 5. EVERYTHING FADES (4:31) | 6. THE FIRE (4:28) | 7. LOOK INNOCENT (4:14) | 8. FULL ON YOU (3:44) | 9. SHOT ‘EM (4:37)
BAND LINE-UP
LEE-LA BAUM – VOCALS, GUITAR, TAMBOURINE
TOM SHEMER – GUITARS, KEYBOARDS, MANDOLIN, TAMBOUIRINE, VOCALS
PY LETTERLIER – BASS GUITAR, TAMBOURINE, VOCALS
DAVE TRAINA – DRUMS, VOCALS
