Album of the week: 3.2

Dan Sartain

Too Tough To Live

(2012)

why you'll love it: Uncharted territory, good use of simple songwriting

why you'll hate it: 19 minutes, every song sounds the same

After a disappointing return with Lives (2010), Dan Sartain is back with a new sound. Simplicity was what did in Lives, a vastly inferior follow up to the brilliant southern rockabilly swagger of JOIN DAN SARTAIN (2006). Instead of trying to go back and right the wrongs, Dan works with his new simplistic writing style to create a 19 minute Ramones style greaser punk album.

Too Tough To Live has not an inch of fat on it. No extended intros, or middle eights, and no extra verses. There is only one track on here that breaks the 2 minute mark. The songs are simple, but cut off (abruptly) before they get annoyingly repetitive.

As much as I'd love to hear another JOIN DAN SARTAIN, this looser, louder, and dirtier version of Dan is a pleasant surprise. I think it's a cool departure, but not a good permanent direction. 19 minutes of this is enough. These songs have a very lo-fi production. Almost to the point where the whole thing sounds like a demo tape. The way the songs are structured, you're not really missing out on anything by everything sounding to grainy and mashed together.

If you can't hang with this kind of production, there is nothing here for you. As someone who has been listening to Dan for a long time, I think it's a cool little change of pace. Definitely washed the taste of Lives out of my mouth.