Phil Cody
The Sons Of Intemperance Offering

There are albums that surprise me like the first warmth of spring: "The Sons Of Intemperance Offering" by Phil Cody is one of them.

Phil Cody's story, who the musicians accompanying him are, what they did before or after, have never interested me, because this is an album that stands on its own. Because on a spring day, I don't question things.

For those who do ask questions, I can report that, according to critics, this album gravitates in the no-depression galaxy, with Uncle Tupelo being its initiators and standout exponents.

For me, it's more a matter of revisited American mainstream, like the Jayhawks did wonderfully with "Hollywood Town Hall", or the Counting Crows with "August And Everything After" for the masses with measured elegance, or the Dave Matthews Band with "Before These Crowded Streets" in the worst possible way.

Fortunately, in this album Phil Cody leans decisively towards Jayhawks and Counting Crows, playing beautiful and simple music - in a word, honest - not shying away from pleasant easy and catchy atmospheres and thankfully confining rare incoherent musings to a corner.

There's a lot inside: the accordion in “House Of Lust” as well as the acoustic chorale in “Unmarried Ladies”; the pure and simple fun of “Hats Off” but also the melancholy of “Stages”; the rock atmospheres of “Solana Beach” and the country ones of “The Loneliest Girl In The World”; the electro-acoustic ballad “All The Way My Lover Leads” and the subdued “Scream At The Blackbirds”; the nice cover of the Clash's “Straight To Hell”; and much more.

Without being a masterpiece, one of those albums that definitely puts you in a good mood.

At least with me, it works.