A History Of Violence

Vinyl LP pressing. 2018 release. Once the intro to opener "Human" gives way to it's fully-realized sonic purpose, it's obvious that Harlan T. Bobo's fourth proper album, A History of Violence, is quite different from his previous body of work. The classic historical emotional heft of a songwriter trying to make sense of life's chaos-think mid-'70s Lou Reed, especially Coney Island Baby-is a thread running through the album's mid-tempo tracks like "Human" and the miniature literary tragedy that is "Nadine." The punchier tracks on the album, like "Spiders," conjure very early Green On Red, what X's mid-'80s output could have been, or even the roots-rock tendencies of overlooked genius Cass McCombs. The album was recorded in Memphis with Doug Easley, who has previously worked with Cat Power, Pavement, Wilco, Sonic Youth, Jon Spencer, and Jeff Buckley. Bobo also brought in Steve Selvidge (The Hold Steady, Bash & Pop) on bass and Jeff "Bunny" Dutton (Action Family) on guitar, along with regular contributors Jeff Bouck (Polyphonic Spree) and Brendan Spangler (Viva l'American Death Ray).