Hard to believe that it’s been three years since James McCann’s last album, the excellent Where Was I Then. But then I don’t think McCann is too concerned with the passing of time. He’s always been something of a traveling player, moving across the country from west to east – and back again – over a period of years with various outfits, changing and refining his musical approach along the way. This is credited as a solo project on the cover, but on the insert there’s a nod to The Dirty Skirt Band, who like McCann are a bit of a shifting entity.

Bound For The Blues was recorded – as most of Torn & Frayed’s releases are – up in north-central Victoria, in a farmhouse-cum-studio set among the rural pastures of Nagambie. And it’s this setting, along with copious amounts of homemade red wine, that seems to imbue the sound with a degree of richness and warmth.

Having said that, this is not a cosy album. Any cobwebs are swiftly blown away with the huge descending riff and spitting vocals of opener ‘What’s Inside’. The title track shares a downbeat feel, and perhaps some lyrical concerns with The Saints’ epic ‘Messin’ With The Kid’, while ‘I Started A Fire’ is rhythmic and low key until about two thirds of the way through, when the muted guitar finally emits a spray of feedback and McCann opens his throat to roar. The contrast between those big guitar sounds, which occasionally teeter on the edge of becoming out-and-out jams, and the quieter tunes are the blueprint for most of the album. But whatever’s been held back comes to a head on last track ‘Where Do You Go?’, a headlong race to the finish that pounds like a freight train.

On the basis of some of McCann’s musical stylings, and perhaps also on some of the titles, lazy hipsters can try to dismiss this as “whiskey rock”. But pigeonhole this record at your peril – there is lot more depth to McCann and his Dirty Skirts.

by Trevor Block