When you're a minimalist, it doesn't take much to fancy things up, and a quick spin of Dirty Photographs, the fourth studio album from Irish blues-punk brawlers the Bonnevilles, certainly bears this out. This is a band that clearly has no plans to reinvent the wheel, and for the most part, Dirty Photographs serves up a hearty portion of what the group is known for: big, dirty guitar riffs from Andrew McGibbon, Jr.; pounding drums courtesy of Chris McMullan; and tunes that wrap traditional blues figures around lyrics that put a 21st century spin on the usual tales of bad luck and trouble. But there's just enough seasoning on these tracks to set them apart from their previous work. The moody keyboards on "Don't Curse the Darkness" add significantly to the tune's deep, late-night feeling; "Disobedia" demonstrates they can ease up on the impact and still register; the electronic punctuations on "Robo 6000" are witty and effective; and the acoustic number "The Rebels Shrug" -- complete with cello accents and female backing vocals -- suggests the folkier moments of Led Zeppelin III, right down to a touch of Robert Plant's vocal inclinations. And even when the Bonnevilles are digging their usual groove, there's enough smarts, sweat, and passion in this duo's songwriting and musical attack that they make this stuff sound fresher than it ought to be. Dirty Photographs doesn't rewrite what we know about the Bonnevilles, but it shows that they aren't afraid to play with their formula and they have the smarts and the talent to try new things, a lesson a lot of bands in their subgenre never quite learn.
© Mark Deming /TiVo