Review: Welcome To Ashley – Beyond The Pale

May 27th, 2010 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

It’s hard to find solid rock ‘n’ roll these days. Everybody’s got a gimmick, everybody’s dressed in some weird clothes, everybody’s trying to be funny. It makes me feel like Bob Lefsetz some days. But, damn it, Welcome To Ashley play solid rock ‘n’ roll. No bullshit, no filler – just straight-up powersauce injected directly into your brain’s rawk-core. Originally from Nashville, the band calls Chicago home now, and the windy city is all over this record. Frontman Coley Kennedy sounds resolutely conflicted about his adopted hometown, spinning the everyday sights and sounds into snarled poetry – Beyond The Pale is a great record for anybody who’s ever walked around the city late at night feeling happily creeped out. It almost seems like it was designed specifically for that purpose, actually.

But it’s also the kind of disc that sends you hurtling down the highway at increasingly unsafe speeds. Listen to it once and you’ll be hooked – not just replaying it endlessly, but humming the melodies as you go about your daily, non-music-related tasks. The sound is warm and inviting; right from the start, huge guitars surround you, chiming and swirling like REM infused with alt-punk’s irreverent speed. Key to the record’s charm is its crisp immediacy – it doesn’t sound like it was recorded with a computer. And these analog sonic confines are a perfect match for Coley’s voice – his rich baritone betrays hints of Joey Ramone and Rhett Miller, but he’s got plenty of singular swagger. Nowhere is this in greater evidence than on the album’s final two tracks – “Thursday Afternoon” is a Petty-ish rocker that finds an emotional goldmine in the way Kennedy repeats the phrase “I fell in love with you” over and over on the song’s climax, and “End Of The Line” closes the record on a spare, lonesome note, delivered with so much honest feeling that it actually hurts. It’s probably the best song I’ve heard all year, in terms of raw craftsmanship; fucking Daughtry could sing it and I’d probably jam along. It’s just that awesome.

I’ve known Welcome To Ashley were good for a little while – I listened to their Absent Man EP last year and found a lot to like. And they made a convert out of noted nu-metal enthusiast Third World Timmy when he caught them at the Empty Bottle. But Beyond The Pale confirms the band’s actual greatness. Tracks like “The Catbird Seat” and “I Love Monday Mornings” sound equally fresh and timeless, like new standards in the great rock songbook. Using the simplest possible ingredients – brisk electric guitar, big melodies, Sherrlia Bailey’s precise old-school drumming – Welcome To Ashley have created something completely unique and absorbing. Beyond The Pale is the best straight-up rock record I’ve heard this year.

(Welcome to Ashley are playing a KEXP/Equalizer sponsored show at darkroom this Friday. The show starts at 9pm, and Ladies & Gentlemen are opening. The Assault Party Death Squad will be representing in full force at this event, so please come out and say hello. And pick up a copy of Beyond The Pale. It’s completely worth it.)