Description
Label Review.
2020 album. Americana. Also available on Vinyl.
Our Overview.
As our culture grows increasingly isolated and selfish, Seattle-based roots group Western Centuries believes that the way forward is better together. ‘Call the Captain’, the band’s third full-length record, is a cosmic, genre melding testament to the power of collaboration and humility. Mutual admiration are what Cahalen Morrison, Ethan Lawton, and Jim Miller cite as the heart of their project. Western Centuries celebrates their third album as a “band’s band” (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the band’s lack of hierarchy). Unsurprisingly for such an egalitarian outfit, the collection offers harsh criticism of dogmatic belief systems, all while leading by example with a unique, genre-defying sound.
Teaming up again with Band of Horses veteran and GRAMMY-nominated producer Bill Reynolds, ‘Call the Captain’ is rife with topical songwriting, deftly woven into a crazy quilt of country, rock & roll, and classic R&B sounds. ‘Call the Captain’s’ twelve tracks delve into issues contemporary and timeless, be it the arrogance of the powerful, the search for purpose, or the ever-sorrowful pain of lost love. The band’s three songwriters (Ethan Lawton, Jim Miller, and Cahalen Morrison) question dogmatic authority and institutional thought throughout, with both an earnest, introspective approach as well as brilliantly executed humour and satire.
Similarly, the band’s kaleidoscopic sonic choices make it nigh on impossible to pigeonhole the group, adding a subtle undercurrent of subversion to the country music establishment. The core makeup of the band (Lawton, Miller, Morrison, Nokosee Fields, and Thomas Bryan Eaton) are embellished with special guests along the way, including Americana legend Jim Lauderdale and former Stray Birds fiddler Oliver Bates Craven. Western Centuries will have you questioning your deepest assumptions, but don’t be fooled: with ‘Call the Captain’, you’ll have a damn good time doing it.
Tracklistng: Lifeblood Sold / Every Time It’s Raining / Barcelona Lighthouse / Heart Broke Syndrome / No Cure / All The Things That I Could Say To You Right Now / The Sentinel / Long Dreadful Journey / Dynamite Kid / Space Force / Sarah And Charlie / Before That Final Bell