On their latest LP On The Other Side, San Francisco-based band The Stone Foxes carry forward that blues-infused swagger rock reminiscent of everyone from The Rolling Stones to The Black Crowes. On The Other Side builds perfectly on the foundation laid out on their four previous efforts, finding the band more confident than every and expanding their sound slightly without losing any of the momentum they’ve created over the past 15 years.
The first two cuts on the album, “Man’s Red Fire” and “Time Is A Killer,” are both solid guitar-based rockers but it’s the third track, “Faded (Bye Bye Baby),” where the band really shows their growth. The song, with remarkable harmonies, backing vocals and a little funk sprinkled in, shows a new side to a band that has already established its guitar rock credentials over the years. The same can be said about the slow burn of “Help Me Now,” a measured track but with all the intensity of their more raucous moments here.
A lot of the lyrical themes on the album focus on frontman Shannon Koehler’s open-heart surgery and the fear and uncertainty that surrounded that procedure and the follow-up. They also cover topics like anxiety and living with the effects of climate change. “Time is a Killer” is about Mother Nature’s destructive capability while “Man’s Red Fire” was born out of witnessing the California wildfires firsthand. The record ends on the haunting “Perfect For Me,” with fuzzed out guitars and some of Shannon’s most personal lyrics yet.
There has been a six-year break between this record and the last and clearly the band didn’t let rust settle in as they are more focused and inspired than ever before. This album also marks the first time brothers Shannon and Spence (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, pedal steel, bass) have been the main songwriters on every track of an album.
