Their first album in ten years finds Seattle’s Brent Amaker And The Rodeo driving their wagons through spaghetti western sunsets as Philaphobia toys with outlaw country music conventions, heartbreaking cowboy laments, theatrical swells, revved-up country howling, and heavy doses of gallows humor.
Amaker fronts The Rodeo and he is the clear focal point as the songwriter and lead singer. His baritone booms out front of the sound, very reminiscent of Johnny Cash, but this is no straight-ahead county outfit. Amaker describes his style of music as “Western Performance Art” and that description sticks. It’s as if you splashed a little They Might Be Giants in with your Marty Robbins and then filtered it through a Tex Avery cartoon.
In fact, the influence that stands out the most is covered directly on this album as Amaker and The Rodeo deliver a take on Devo’s “Gut Feeling”. The Rodeo goes with an extended grooving instrumental opening up the beloved group’s tune before Amaker’s baritone mixes sex and semi-smirking menace. Those feelings also flow through “Crawdog Creek” which adds call-and-response vocals and a touch of cute fun with the menace, before sawing electric guitars cut up the finale.
Those heavier touches screech out on “Take It By the Horns” which amps up the cowpunk, stomping and blazing with metal-like guitar work while “It’s All On Me Tonight” delivers snapping snares that pummel like a band of horses galloping through the dusty plains. The most serious effort is the painful break-up song to Amaker’s ex-wife “Take My Heart” which sears with lived-in hurt and some gorgeous flamenco guitars, while “Los Angeles” is more tongue and cheek; a fractured ode to a fractured Western town.
An effort like “Climb Aboard” plays up the outfit’s theatrical vibes with big questions, vibrating guitars, and yee-haw’s while snaking guitars, mandolin, and literal whip cracks color album closer “Wanted”, both of which would not have been out of place during The Blues Brothers set at Bob’s Country Bunker.
That sense of cinematic over-the-top Western theatrics courses throughout Philaphobia as Brent Amaker And The Rodeo dial up the country pomp and Western circumstance, but also add heartfelt touches that keep the album from slipping into straight parody.
