Wreckless Strangers have already made some waves with singles such as “You Just Hurt”, among others, so hearing their album When the Sun and a Blue Star Collide in full for the first time gives listeners a complete vision of the band’s skills. This group of San Francisco Bay area musicians are obviously grounded in Americana – David Noble and Rob Anderson’s guitars are full of blues licks, folkie turns, and countrified twang – but they aren’t afraid either to bring horns into play or lean heavily on keyboardist Austin de Lone.
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Blues certainly plays a major role from the outset. It would still be a great song without it, but Charlie Musslewhite’s harmonica is a crowning touch on “Sun State” that listeners won’t soon forget. The renowned harmonica player, inarguably among the best to ever achieve notoriety playing the harp, doesn’t dominate the performance, he would never be so crass, and Colin Linden’s production juxtaposes him well against the band’s slamming blues.
“My Art” couldn’t be more different. Lead guitarist and one of the band’s primary singers, along with Amber Morris, David Noble dispatches a lovely folk-influenced number with one of the album’s best lyrics attached. It is a little off the beaten track in terms of subject matter, but keen-eared listeners will hear a lyric with multiple possible interpretations. Noble contributes excellent lead guitar to the second half of “It Is What It Is”, but the peak in this song for many listeners will come with the consistently moving work Noble and Amber Morris accomplish as vocalists.
The groove for “Mudluscious” is another of When the Sun and a Blue Star Collide’s finest moments. Mick Hellman leads the band into this track with decisiveness and maintains the groove for the song’s duration. If this track comes closest to a throwaway number on the release, “Alexa” is about as far away as one could get. Austin de Lone’s keyboard playing, as well as his piano, serve as a virtual de-facto vocalist thanks to the interplay he shares with the song’s actually singers. He provides atmospheric touches as well that are impossible to ignore.
Amber Morris gives “Raw Deal” the sort of impassioned desperation its music and, especially, lyrics deserve. It boasts an inventive and often stinging arrangement as well and light guitar effects such as reverb accentuate the song rather than coming off as empty gloss and no more. “What’s Your Price” is a hard-hitting grinder with its flags planted in both blues and rock territory while the finale, “Let You Go”, rates among the album’s finest moments thanks to its soulful and sparkling harmonies, uptempo energy, and eloquent piano runs. It makes for a fitting close to When the Sun and a Blue Star Collide.
All-star project or not, we’ll be hearing more from Wreckless Strangers. They have a lot of other things to do, individually, but it’s difficult, if not outright impossible, to imagine they don’t realize what they’ve achieved with When the Sun and a Blue Star Collide and will look to build on it. They’ve far from exhausted the creative possible of their collaboration.
Rachel Townsend