Barry - Yawin’ In The Dawnin’
Some would accuse this site of being one filled with endless pessimism; the glass is always half empty for us. With this in mind there has never been a more fitting EP to land in our inbox than “Yawnin’ in the Dawnin’” by Barry, a folk-rock four-piece. They feel like a capable band cracking out tunes, but they need their glasses topped up - with more whores whiskey and probably lime.
By this I don’t mean they’re missing and rock with their roll (although if this album was a roll it would be a soft white bap.) it’s just… if a folk band wants to sing songs vaguely like Nickleback covering Ryan Adams I need to be able to hear the syphilis in the throat, the jangle of rotten teeth, and the low vibrating thrum of whiskey-pickled lungs; more coke and fights, less gentle folk records, more sleeping rough, less hot dinners, more blood, less bleeding.
The album starts off well enough, the intro to Yawin’ in the Dawnin’ making them sound like bunch of sea-shanty loving fuck-heads. Even the first couple of songs channel something of the Pogues via For Your Own Good and Carnival(e) (embedded below) - but it all falls apart disappointingly by the time we reach Drink One More. Or rather, it doesn’t, nothing is falling apart here, it’s all together each song coddled into existence no roughness, no life, no wear and tear.
Barry: one of the most “together” bands ever to submit to these acidic pages - but all the poorer for it.
Like that? You could always leave a comment, or buy the album to spite my review: BUY BARRY BUY BARRY BUY BARRY
