Men's Adventures - Solitary Trip ep

Men's Adventures. Adventures for Men. That's what you'll find on the Solitary Trip EP, where the roaming man named Black Billy finds love. The songs are steeped in a western sound and drawn from the comic book series of the same name - Men's Adventures.

'B.B Vulture' sets out the stall from the off, with a slow gallop and the story of a man trawling bars for a woman destined to change his life. 'Friends' sounds like it's being sung from a canyon and, while there is the feel of a western movie-score in the background, you also get a little country and even a little surf in the guitars. For every line which is trite and obvious in this kind of music, there is another line to stand out to make you sit up and take notice, such as: "I lost every last shred of my dignity", sung with the howl of a coyote.

By the time you hit the final track, 'Feeling Bad', your ears might tire of straining through the din to hear the vocals. So soaked in reverb are they, and so bogged down by the Native American-sounding backing vocals, that it wears a little thin. The instrumental 'Solitary Trip' travels you to dusty roads with cactus and the hot sun but that's as far as you go, there are no shocks or revelations beyond.

The twanging guitars and the ballad nature of the tracks carries well over five tracks but any more, with the lack of payoff in the B.B Vulture story, would probably leave less of an impression. Here is a band with a great sense of their sound. All they need is a sprinkle of subversion or wrecklessness to kick into gear.