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reviewed for The Dwarf

Roland K Smith, previously the singer of hard rock band Walrus, has branched out as a solo act of sorts with backing band The Sinners. Taking from the more American strands of rock n roll, alt country and power pop, his calling card comes in the form of the EP Straight To Hell.

Each song takes a slightly different stylistic angle, showing the full spectrum of Smith’s talent and aspirations.

The title track opens the EP in a righteous swamp rock fashion with some mexican/californian flourishes of twang and shuffle. Smith takes a tough vocal approach with the songs tale of murder and sin. It is classic Gun Club and Scientists territory with a touch of Jack White’s swagger. Smith does the wracked southern gothic thing well and has a backing band that matches his musical vision.

Captain Radio dials up the power pop with its super melodic vocals and bouncing bass line. It is a song that could have come straight from The Exploding Hearts album or one of The Clash’s poppier rock n roll moments. It is an infectious song with a fine guitar line dancing its way through its latter part.

Fool For Sedation takes us into country territory, almost to the point of pastiche. Jeff Pope’s pedal steel squeals and chirps like a Nashville lament while Smith’s tale of self medication doesn’t ring particularly true. It feels too forced and doesn’t sit with the more natural sounding songs on the EP.

Shades of jazz and swing colour Away From You with its pleasant latter-day Dylan rolling rhythm. Smith’s voice sounds more settled and it is a curious mix of pop and rock n roll that works a lot better than Fool For Sedation.

Final track A Better Life Or Another Name is Roland K Smith & The Sinners getting serious. The song is much darker than anything else on the EP and The Drones come through as a big influence, both in the mood and the half spoken lyrics. It builds at a great pace with Smith exorcising his demons and stretching his vocal cords, at times a little too much. To really nail this type of song you need a fire and brimstone bellow like Nick Cave or Gareth Liddiard. At this stage of his career Smith doesn’t have the depth in his voice to convince. When he sings “I swear I saw an angel” repeatedly he sounds like that angel was strangling him. When he ceases singing and the guitar takes over it is more of a relief than anything else.

A definite talent, Smith has the songs, the voice and the band to execute his vision. What he needs now is to play live as much as possible and really get inside the music. There is a danger with this kind of music that it becomes too polished, so the key is to find the areas of grit and tension, nurture and grow them and if they do that they could well have a great debut album round the corner.