J. Roddy Walston And The Business

Forcing the oft-clashing worlds of art and rock-and-roll to make nice, J. Roddy Walston & The Business (including guitarist/vocalist Billy Gordon, bassist/vocalist Logan Davis, and drummer Steve Colmus) deal in a scrappy yet sublime sound that honors both their Southern roots and punk spirit. For the latest example of this, head to the A.V. Club for the debut of their new track "Black Light" from the upcoming album Essential Tremors, out September 10th via ATO Records. Co-produced by Matt Wignall (Delta Spirit, Cold War Kids) and Grammy-winning producer/engineer Mark Neill (The Black Keys) at Neill's own Soil of the South Studios (a Valdosta, Georgia-based facility where J. Roddy Walston & The Business were the first to ever record), Essential Tremors is the follow-up to 2010's much-acclaimed self-titled sophomore album also finds the band crafting lyrics that ultimately serve as a secret language to the initiated listener.

Endlessly shifting from snarling and stompy to warm and soulful-and often encompassing all of the above within the same note?Essential Tremors opens with "Heavy Bells," a powerhouse lead single that starts out breezy then gives way to a blistering chorus that threatens to rip Walston's sweetly ragged vocals right open. The album amps up that brutal energy on songs like "Hard Times" (an epic anthem built on a mercilessly driving bassline) and "Sweat Shock" (a track that comes off like dance-floor war cry for Native American metalheads), while "Marigold" keeps it blissfully catchy and "Black Light" offers a glammed-up bedroom boogie that could be the soundtrack to a metaphysical seduction scene. Even when turning tender (such as on the heart-on-sleeve serenade "Boys Can Never Tell," the harmony-soaked "Nobody Knows," and the album-closing stunner "Midnight Cry"), Essential Tremors burns with a raw passion that's nothing short of glorious.

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