now is not the time mp3 Reasons and Rooms…. buy it! or go to their bandcamp page!

I met this guy once, at Lincoln Hall, for a drink, and he slipped me this CD, and told me about this band named Pretty Little Empire. He was like an evangelist for this band. He couldn’t stop grinning when he talked about them. In fact, he has reviewed their first album for his blog and told me how he was bringing them to Chicago to play a show. I went home and played the album… over and over, in my car, in my house, everywhere I could. Sweet Sweet Hands is gorgeous. And then summer hit and festivals began and so much new music came pouring in. And I never reviewed  it, and sometime in July Pretty Little Empire came to town. The only time I could give them that night was to their soundcheck. I had two gigs to go to and a band staying with me and oh god, I was over-extended! But those 30 minutes or so that I sat in the basement of the Chopin Theatre and listened to Justin and the rest of them play were more than enough to convince me of one simple fact: Pretty Little Empire was the real deal. The harmonies are simple and clear, the melodies are not complicated but remain consistently true to Pretty Little Empire’s “sound.” This is American music without being Americana, this is folk without being folksy. And you know I LIKE Americana and folksy. But Pretty Little Empire just isn’t those things. They’re a whole other ball of wax that consists of the kind of music that you think of when you think of alt-country with a real soul and a real backbone to it, mixed with a healthy dose of garage rock. I was warned that this album was more “more on the rockin side and a little bigger production” than their last, and yes, yes it is, but it’s still very much the heart and soul of the band.

Reasons and Rooms begins with a song that is very much like their last album. “now is not the time” has that insistency to it that just grabs you. That thread runs throughout the album, in the driving beat, and you feel it again in the repetition of the lyrics. “Islands” could easily dissolve into lazy, depressing drabness. But this band keeps it on track and tight, and the song stands out as poignant and stark. It’s one of my favorites on Reasons and Rooms, and the slide guitar is gorgeous. But the next song is by far, my absolute number one favorite song of them all: “Let’s Say ‘I Do.’” The way the chorus expands with sound in such a wailing, wild way against his tenor voice just kills me. Paced as fast as it is, this song is a nice throw back/shake up moment in this selection of really attractive, pretty, songs. Indeed, one of the best things about Reasons and Rooms is the lush background given to Justin’s vocals. Keyboard, trumpet, drums, steel guitar; all harmonize around that central, vocal, pole. And as I write that sentence, “Wasted Days” plays and proves me wrong, for it is such a collaborative product, proof that this band thrives on a cacophony of sound as much as it does on those pared down guitar/vocal melodies. Don’t underestimate this St. Louis band, for Pretty Little Empire are certainly a band to watch in 2012. Speaking with Justin that night at the Chopin, I found a person who was just upfront and honest with what he does and what he hoped for in life. Some people play at being humble, others know that the music they make speaks for itself, just get out of its way.

P.S., Thanks, Tony! muuuaahh! xoxo