Leigh Marble reviewed
Leigh Marble
Red Tornado
(Laughing Stock)
Rootsy Portland singer-songwriter Leigh Marble has a crossbow full of rusty arrows ready for his second album, though its bookends have to duke it out with a soggy middle.
The dirty jangle of opener “Lucky Bastards” might be predictably punctuated by a howling slide guitar, but Marble fills in the cracks so well it doesn’t matter. Part Todd Snider, part P.W. Long, the stomping beat behind him kicks a cloud up from the earthen floor and gleefully insouciates the proceedings. “On Your Way,” the token kiss-off track, is likewise unencumbered by its conformity to Marble’s self-image — he even consciously signals each verse’s end with a Dylanesque harmonica riff.
But then Red Tornado slinks off into singer-songwriter/bedroom morass. “Salt In The Wound” gets further exhausted as Marble does his best J Mascis croak, continued in its times-are-hardness by “Baby Ruth” (broken up by a quick return to life with “Fast & Loose”). “So Far” bemoans the tyranny of distance, “Get Yours” subconsciously sneaks a Folk Implosion lick, while “The Big Words” and “Gave It All” heave along uncharacteristically laden arrangements.
Yet suddenly, as if nothing happened, Tornado snaps back awake in the Billy Bragg glory of “Stakes,” mocking someone’s feigned piousness and continuing to empty the cartridge. It’s back to missteps with the overwrought, Afghan Whigs-styled pomp of “Strip The Bed,” but it’s reassuring to know Marble is alive in there somewhere.
— Steve Forstneger
