Laid back country-rock-pop that refuses to go unheard…
There is something pleasant in receiving a quirky looking CD and discovering it is, in fact, as brilliant as the cover suggests. With its ‘library book’ digipack, ‘The Bull, The Balloon and the Family’ is a delicious 13 track offering from Reubens Accomplice.
‘The Bull, The...’ is the genre crossing album manages to remain a focal point of the year of its release, but blossoms when the conditions are perfect for many years to come. Beginning with ‘Big Apple, Small Heart’, Reubens Accomplice start with a rambling yet upbeat track that can’t decide if it wants to be a simple country love song or something else, something a listener can fall in love with yet is unable to define. From 40 year old single parents to pre-teens beginning to walk the path of a rock music fan, Jeff Bufano and Chris Corak manage to skilfully cater for a wide range of tastes. With the upbeat bounce of ‘All Chorus’ it is easy to overlook the melancholy plea for love which is so poignant. This is a theme which appears frequently through this album. ‘Leave the City’ is one of the (many) highlights on this delightful album that reeks of the summer yet fits perfectly with the chilly bite of autumn.
‘This Town’ is the more mature sister of the previous track. It begins with the kind of soft guitar rarely heard these days and goes on to become a highly unusual track. It plays like any other upbeat country rock song until the chorus kicks in - just as you think the song is going to cause your speakers to explode into an angry attack at their homeland of Arizona, it sinks back into a pleasant croon.
Jeff and Chris (the masterminds behind Reubens Accomplice) may not have enjoyed their teenage years living in North Phoenix, but it has left them with a large amount of subject material and the understanding that music doesn’t have to be heavy to be heard.
Despite this album being a work of genius, it is doubtful that it will get the amount of praise it deserves to have lavished upon it - tracks like ‘Act On (Feeling Alone)’ and ‘In And Out of Key’ may be beautiful blasts of quaint pop rock beauty, it lacks that certain something which is found in mainstream bands. In the case of Reubens Accomplice, this is certainly a good thing for the music they create runs pure and untainted by the demands of the public.