STATIONARY ODYSSEY – Sons of Boy

The American frontier wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Countless hyperbolizers falsely remember the period as a time of sparkling lawlessness and thrilling adventure, full of the sheriff deputies and blood-drinking Indians. The more mirthless authenticity of the time has long been paved over by self-imposed fallaciousness. But obviously that reality isn’t much fun to think about, and Stationary Odyssey understand that. On their fourth LP, the acid-folk collective pay homage to the more romanticized version of the Wild West, the way Clint Eastwood and John Wayne would remember it.

Sons of Boy packs a pretty significant punch in the relatively lean running time of 40 minutes. The eight tracks range from the twangy desolation of “Chuck Feeder’s Blues,” to the acidic noise-wank of “Cherry Teeth (You Got).” It’s actually pretty impressive how many genuinely good ideas Stationary Odyssey managed to fit into one record, and even more impressive how many influences they span. You’ve got latter-day indie rock, classic folk, caustic drone, and even a little grimy dance, all managing to create a dank, creaky, saloon-door-swinging environment.

(Joyful Noise Recordings, PO Box 20109, Indianapolis, IN 46220)