Punk rock and Muscle Shoals seem combined so effortlessly in
Jennyanykind's music that it's hard to figure out where one ends and the other begins. On
Revelater, the Greenville, SC, brothers' sole jaunt into a big label deal and the New York City scene, these two influences definitely operate alternately at times. The opening track, "Repent in Time," moves back and forth between a bright soul bridge backed by a sharp guitar and piano and a rawer, more distorted verse. In each song and over the entire album, the two elements eventually fuse together. What results is a catchy cacophony of blues power chords, Mark Holland's crashing hi hats, and his brother Michael's ranting and raving, which resembles the quirky punk vocals of
Lou Reed. The songs that sustain this energy from beginning to end, like "The Sun Shines Down on the Average" and "The Great Deceiver," are the strongest. Otherwise, while the lyrics are outstanding, they sound muddy and insubstantial at times beneath the more dominant instrumentation, for which this album deserves its merit. ~ John Martin