Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lullwater in Hybrid Music Magazine



Southern rockers Lullwater have re-surfaced with their 2011 release Silhouette from Spectra Records. The rock quartet from Athens, Georgia is a crossbreed of Saving Abel's searing guitar shreds and Zac Brown's husky voicing. Fronted by guitarist John Strickland, Lullwater's music is swaddled in steaming guitar flusters by lead guitarist Brett Strickland with an undertow of rumbling beats orchestrated by drummer Nick Thomas and bass guitarist Roy Beatty.

Though the music is testosterone-fuelled, the lyrics show a consciousness that has a feminine touch like in "Broken Wings" when John reflects, "With bloodshot eyes I begin to see/rise above the fray, rise above the fire". Sometimes the words even have a poetic bent, like in "Low" with perceptive observations that muse, "Quicksand of words swallow me whole". The bowing of the guitar chords in "Whatever Happened" vents the frustration expressed in the lyrics, "Sometimes I think this country is going straight to Hell with a casket made of Botox and prescription pills". Other times the lyrics are more ubiquitous and easy to relate to like in "Amsterdam" as John recites, "Don't know where I'm going but I sure as hell know where I've been."

The seething growls of Brett's guitar burns infuse a compulsive spiking along "Worse By Better" and flare up into chucky shards through "Let Me Out". The intervals along "Low" alternate from balladry simmers to fiery thrusts complimenting the country rock chassis of "Faithful Sinners" which adds an element of balmy Southern comforts. The quartet keeps the tracks mobile and crafts each song individually while maintaining a brute strength in the guitar shreds and the rhythmic thrusts.

Lullwater speak their minds verbally and musically on their album Silhouette. They play their songs the way they like and people can take it or leave it, but no one can deny that there is a genuineness about this band that inspires the same quality in their audience.

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