GORDON GANO – UNDER THE SUN

This is only the second solo album for the distinctive voice of Gordon Gano – the front man for the not-broken-up but in legal dispute Violent Femmes. Gano is no longer telling us to Kiss Off  and that is probably a good thing, because teenage angst does not sit well on middle-aged men. Everything has its time (and place). Teaming here with the Ryan brothers – Billy and Brendan (from the Bogeymen) – Gano takes centre stage (he got guest vocalists on most tracks of his first solo album). Musically Under the Sun splits well and truly from the post-folk-punk of the Femmes – tight and punchy, delicate and nuanced – these songs are lean yet never mean as Gano explores short vignettes, stories of everything from the biblical to intra-family violence. Having said that, Gano’s distinctive “whine” could belong to no other, and was so intrinsic to the Violent Femmes the comparisons are impossible to avoid. It’s always good to hear an artists develop a second life, advance his (or her) craft rather than stagnate and live off past glories. Gano will keep all his old fans here, and should make plenty more with this excellent effort.

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