A slice of Devon!
In 2009 Devon's Crazy Arm released their debut album 'Born To Ruin' and I for one was a fan. So now a couple of years later it is time for that 'awkward' second album, however Crazy Arm are a band that doesn't conform to the pressures put upon them by others. Even with the bands musical style you can tell that they play the type of music that they like, and not what they think people want to hear. 'Union City Breath' is not so awkward as awesome in the way that throughout each song you get another flash of a musical leaning that you would not expect...
For the most part Crazy Arm play Hard Rock but this has a roots-y undertone with more than a rebel yell of Punk to keep it interesting to many. The first released single on this album is 'Tribes' a song that is both The Loved Ones and Springsteen in equal parts, and this (as in the first album) is the underlining sound along with the likes of Gaslight Anthem, Hot Water Music and of course Chuck Ragan that can be heard throughout this offering. The song is a catchy mid-tempo tune that also has prominent keyboards and a tribal slash gospel backing singing at one point. This is after the opening track, 'Of The Tarantulas' has blasted out with it's locomotive chugging guitars and thumping drum beats, and the blast of Punk'n'Roll that is the fantastic 'Bandalito'.
The band aren't afraid to get political and this is evident in both the fast paced, ' The Right Wing Never Sleeps', and more prominently in the Pirate-Folk of, 'Song Of Choice' as they sing about the BNP being Neo-Nazi's. The maritime-influenced music can also be heard in 'The Endless Carriage' as the band can be a little (lyrically) like an English version of The Briggs, with the Punk ethos of the struggling working class on the docks, which Plymouth has in Davenport. Then we have a simple and hugely effective song like, 'Little Boats' that is as catchy as a radio jingle. Brilliant.
Elsewhere we have '200 Pints Of Blood' that sounds just like Billy Talent, and the big ballsy 70's rock of 'Meet The Marines' and 'City & Western', the latter being a smash and grab of chugging guitars, with a hint of slide guitar whilst the vocals have a great strong quality that is both whisky-Blues and fist-pumping Hard Rock. Then we have the gentle Folk of, 'Southway Drive' that is a mix of Chuck Ragan and Frank Turner, a song that builds up into a real foot-tapper. Then the more traditional Acoustic-Folk of, 'Charnel House Blues' - those without morbid tendencies may not know but a Charnel House is a place that either has human skeletal remains or a place associated with death - so this contrasts the beauty that this song beholds. The album finishes with 'White Canyon' that starts gently but builds up for the powerful chorus: "I wanted to leave // but I just couldn't leave // And I wanted to give // But they always wanted more..." we hear at one point.
Crazy Arm are a band that sit on their own, and whilst I have mentioned a whole host of other bands and singers, Crazy Arm remain unique. The songs are layered with love and care with a bit of this genre here, and a bit of another there, sown together to make a patchwork blanket of musical bliss that you can wrap around yourself and embrace bringing you comfort of what the horrible world may have to offer. The band's biggest problem is that people may not get them, and that would be a crying shame. Great debut album and great follow up album. Enough said.