The Buffalo Killers are still comfortably riding the Way Back Machine that has taken them into some alternate version of the early 1970s (an aural Twilight Zone that has been their home since brothers Andy and Zachary Gabbard broke up
Thee Shams), but their fourth album,
Dig. Sow. Love. Grow., makes it clear that the mellower tone that dominated their 2011 release
3 was, for the most part, just a passing phase.
Dig. Sow. Love. Grow. (which in true period fashion was released a bit less than a year after
3) sounds genuinely amiable as the
Buffalo Killers kick out some midtempo jams, but the band hits noticeably harder this time out, and these ten songs sound less like the work of a bunch of Laurel Canyon refugees and more like the proud Midwesterners they really are. Despite its title,
DSLG thankfully doesn't generate much of a hippie vibe; instead, this is the work of a power trio that knows how to cut a deep groove, and Joey Sebaali's drumming (which is fittingly high in the mix) can be counted on to give this music the swift kick it often needs, even on slower and sunnier numbers like "Farewell." Andy Gabbard's guitar work is thick and satisfying throughout, his brother Zachary's bass work is a solid intermediary between the melodies and the grooves, and if the vocals sometimes sound like the work of someone who won a
Joe Walsh soundalike contest, at least the
James Gang Rides Again vibe fits this music just right.
3 sounded as if the
Buffalo Killers were reaching for something bigger and grander than they'd attempted on their first two albums;
Dig. Sow. Love. Grow., on the other hand, is a simpler and more organic effort that suggests these guys just want to rock, but it succeeds well enough to be as satisfying as its predecessor. ~ Mark Deming