Record Label: S/R
Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com

A vast improvement over the disappointing Doing Harm on Easy Street, After the Disasters contains the songwriting experimentation that made Vincent Brue’s previous band – South Jersey Seashore Lifeguard Convention Band – such a gem.

Lifeguard Nights is sort of the acoustic/lo-fi version of SJSLCB, mixing sober-yet-appealing melodies with interesting and diverse deliveries. For instance, “Bastille Day” (not the Rush song) is a folky tune over whistling birds and clomp-clomp horse-hoof percussion. “The Fog” continues the hypnotic vocals and percussion but in a spacey, psychy atmosphere. The next one, “La Jolla,” is a lo-fi Beck-like booty-shaker. And so on.

This is a BIG album with 16 or so tracks. Just about every song is pleasantly warm and fuzzy, with only a rare miss here and there (like the gruff Tom Waits meets honkytonk “Born in the Rain”). But so much of the album is excellent… maybe even genius? It’s not a word I like to bandy about, but Vincent Brue can write. And play – the entire album is performed by him.

I know little about this guy and his bands (they hardly make a mark on Google), but their albums are breaths of fresh air after nearly drowning in a sea of mediocre promos. Track this one down.

Bottom Line: Beautiful, fascinating… maybe genius?
Notable Tracks: Bastille Day, Wish List, well – most of them!
Overall Rating: