Blitzen Trapper
VII
Folk Rock
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Blitzen Trapper’s VII, the Oregon-based group’s seventh album, delivers more grit, Southern storytelling and soul than ever before. The band’s sound has progressed and matured into a mixture of heavy blues, country and classic rock, making its genre and style hard to categorize.
Some of the album’s highlights include “Oregon Geography” and “Faces of You.” “Oregon Geography” creates a vivid wilderness soundscape that’s irresistibly immersive and haunting. It blends organic noises such as rain, howls and scattering leaves with rich, distorted vocals. Figuratively, but almost literally, it transports its listener into a dark and ominous outdoor campfire setting.
“Faces of You,” in comparison to the entire album, feels the most raw and stripped down.
It has a softer and intimate sound with it’s slower tempo, use of percussion, echoes and emphasis on instrumentation. It spends its last half delivering a mirage of ambient noises to a mellow and consistent beat that’s both surreal and almost ethereal.
However, some of the songs lack distinguishable characteristics. Songs such as “Neck Tatts, Cadillacs” and “Drive on Up” to live up to their neighboring tracks. “Drive on Up,” in particular, sounds replicable or borrowed.
Despite occasional low points, VII has enough exciting and memorable tracks to make this hybrid album a must-listen.
As a collective, it’s a collage of Southern campfire tales and whiskey, making it a worthwhile auditory experience.
— Lily Escobar
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