I find myself getting into music ruts sometimes. I listen to records I know I like, and even the new music that comes my way somehow reinforces what’s already in my collection. Then out of the blue something will come along that’s like a breath of fresh air after being trapped inside. Such was the case with the new release from Pittsburgh ensemble Buffalo Rose, entitled Again, Again, Again, that’s probably best categorized as string band pop. Lyrically it goes toe-to-toe with the best folk music, but there’s an overall brightness to the sound that’s compelling.
Several songs on the record reflect musings on life in the 21st century. On Modern Love, you can practically hear the smirk when vocalist/guitarist sings “we could get electric without the telephone line up”. Body Language also addresses a new relationship where “I can speak your body language”. It features Anh Phung on flute: not your typical string band instrument. u up is kind of a paen to txt msgs and what has come to replace drunk dialing for end-of-the-evening loneliness.
Politics don’t escape the band’s repertoire. Hallelujah Anyway pokes at the masses who hide behind Christian values, but don’t actually live them. New World envisions the positivity that could come from escaping the current world where what “we’ve built just saps our energy and time”. Machine Man is, in many ways, a modern politician protest song where kindness and compassion fall to the wayside.
When I first started digging into Buffalo Rose, I saw them called a music collective. That implied to me a group where the members come and go, giving the group a dynamism at the expense of tightness. Nothing could be further from the truth. The six members of the band interleave vocal harmonies and instrumental interplay that ebbs and flows with the emotion of the song. That makes Again, Again, Again an inspired journey through the modern folk landscape.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.