Gaallon Drunk
In The Long Still Night

In the early nineties, this group of dubious frequenters of shady nightclubs emerged in London, led by the multi-instrumentalist James Johnston. From their early works, they followed the post-punk blues blood trail left by bands like Nick Cave's Birthday Party, with a lot of noise stuck to it. With this third work, the sounds and production have become cleaner and less noisy, with many tracks having a swing rhythm ("It's All Mine" and "The Road Ahead"), "sexy" beat moments ("Up On Fire"), and jazz-rock-blues fusion pieces that sometimes result a bit monotonous. Although at the beginning of their career, they represented the perfect breaking point with the prevailing British pop scene of the time thanks to their dark attitude and their blend of challenging genres, "In The Long Still Night" eventually finds its winning cards in the more controlled passages and easy musical definitions, like in the murky ballad "Geraldine" (yet another girl from a rock singer exacting her blood tribute) or in the initial, roaring blues wandering the desert in "Two Clear Eyes". After an excellent start and a minor key midsection, we still walk the streets of London in the uplifting finale, warmed by the gospel march of the title track, a little concluding gem of an album meant to be listened to strictly at night...