REVIEW: Absinthe (featuring Sam Llanas), A Good Day to
Die (Llanas)
- Daniel Aloi
Of all the reasons an artist may have for a solo project, the most often cited is one of expression -- the need to put forth something personal, apart from a band's established image.
So it is for Sam Llanas, half of the singing-songwriting team (with Kurt Neumann) fronting the powerful, passionate roots-rock act The BoDeans. On his new album with a new band, Absinthe, Llanas isn't breaking away from the past, he's hitting it head-on. But don't expect the rave-ups the 'Deans are famous for. This is an intensely personal work, shot through with pain and loss, one that dwells on death and isolation. One man's story in 13 songs.
Reflective, sobering, and starkly beautiful, A Good Day to Die is a cathartic event for Llanas, a journey through his past, darkly. He's gathered, from fragments of songs written over the past 10 years, some of his most closely held thoughts and issues into one statement of who he is and the events that affected him.
The man who sang "Fadeaway" here addresses loneliness and being left to deal with what's gone for good. This theme is defined in the title track, recalling the day of his brother Tom's suicide.
Llanas was 15 when 19-year-old Tom -- someone he'd looked up to, who had tried to advise him -- took his life with their father's shotgun, leaving the Llanas family with pain and confusion. Unexpectedly, Sam's brother, Walter and Angie's son, who hadn't seemed particularly unhappy, was gone -- a lonely wind blows through the song, and all the survivors are left with are questions: "not even 20/and we still wonder why."
Elegant, haunting and rich in feeling, "A Good Day to Die" opens and sets the tone for the album. In an almost spiritual quest for reconciliation, Llanas further explores isolation in "It Don't Bother Me" and "Still Alone," and childhood trauma in "The Bully on the Corner."
Llanas has his friends there with him as he spins these personal tales -- Jim Eannelli on bass and guitar, and drummer Guy Hoffman, originally with the BoDeans, now with the Violent Femmes.
Recording in Milwaukee at the BoDeans' Hacksville Studio with Llanas' coproducer Gary Tanin (who also engineered, mixed and mastered), the members of Absinthe make these songs evocative, and make the most of the dynamics suited to their bleak tone. They also come through with rock'n'roll muscle, as on "A Little Bit of Hell."
The final song is "Time For Us," a countrified celebration of life worth living in the time we're given, as sung by a survivor who knows just how dear that is. It's followed by an uncredited closing track, of a long series of knells from a lone church bell. Each tone, a reminder of loss, shredded by a low, howling wind, hits you in the heart.
Sam Llanas has given the fans of his more famous band's sensitive songs, and anyone who has ever lived through a loss, something to cherish and to think about. While he still remains with the BoDeans, Llanas is ready to continue singing these songs. Absinthe is preparing for a national tour to support the album, and I expect a lot of crying in clubs across the land.
The album is nationally distributed by M.A.D. (Midwest Artists Distribution); further information is available by e-mailing multimus@execpc.com
