The fact that J. Roddy Walston and the Business haven't yet hit a wider audience is almost baffling. The Baltimore-based group has largely grown by word of mouth — people seeing their live shows and spreading the news — which has gained them enough exposure to play small sets at large festivals such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. However, your average-Joe music lover has still probably never heard of them. So, if any album were to get them over that hump, "Essential Tremors" would be it.
The band has always had a straightforward, gritty, no-frills rock and roll sound, but "Essential Tremors" has brought them into their own. They have developed a pop sensibility (similar to early Kings of Leon material) that will resonate more widely, and they have integrated an eclectic use of genres.
The tracks bring to mind vocal elements of Dr. Dog and Jack White with guitar and drums that channel artists ranging from Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top to Elvis and Johnny Cash to Alabama Shakes and The Black Keys to Bob Dylan and Mumford and Sons. With comparisons to those kinds of commercially successful artists, recognition for the band should soon be within reach.
Walston stepped up his game lyrically and has opened up emotionally for this effort. From the title of the album being a reference to a degenerative nervous-system disorder he has, similar to Parkinson's Disease, that causes his hands to shake — he has mentioned it in previous songs but never to this extent — to the lyrics on tracks such as "Boys Can Never Tell," his writing is honest and poignant.
The band is playing fun music that isn't reinventing the wheel necessarily, but it is full of soul and doesn't for a second feel tired.
The pacing of the album is a mix of slow-jams and heart-pumping rock and roll. Many of their songs incorporate the 12-bar blues structure and blend it with rockabilly doo-wop rhythms, groovy R&B falsetto and down-to-earth folk vibes. Plus, their use of steel guitar is pretty sick.
"Essential Tremors" is, hands down, J. Roddy and the Business's best album yet. If you haven't checked them out before, this record is certainly worth a spin.
