[rating=2.00]
These Alaskan country-fried players sure have some depressing Ten Day Benders; they also have enough good ‘ole boy in them to pump a shotgun and pick a fiddle simultaneously. Songs presented here are a mix of narratives describing bleak places (“Petersville”) strung out revelers (“Hillbilly Heroin”) and psychotic drifters (“Wayward John”). The lyrics unfold in a clear direct path, painting desolate worlds over single note electric guitars and simple beats that leave these twangy tunes lacking. “Shotgun,” Wedding” and “Codeine” however work well, sounding straight out of Nashville’s pseudo country machine but with more heart and no glam rock. The crisp production highlights the lap steel with pristine clarity and the hoedowns/instrumentals tossed in try to move the disk along, but presented as a complete work, Ten Day Bender seems stagnant like many a long Alaskan night.
