Route .44 threads themes of sin, vice, betrayal and fury in a blend of breathless harlequin and burning disdain.

10 MP3 Songs in this album (36:42) !
Related styles: ROCK: Roots Rock, WORLD: Gypsy

People who are interested in Tom Waits Morphine Gogol Bordello should consider this download.


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If you considered their debut âWorthless Lessonâ album a slap upside the head, you better duck. Route .44âs sophomore release is a haymaker. The album, called âThis is My America,â can be likened to Russell Croweâs first big
line in âGladiatorâ... âUnleash Hellâ or Gerard Butlerâs, as Leonidas in â300â... âPrepare for Glory.âYeah, â...My Americaâ has just that kind of ferocity.
The current lineup of Route .44 came together just under five years ago, with stand up bassist and production guru Eric D. joining in â05. In 2007, they earned a Motif Music Award for Breakthru Band of the Year. In 2008, they were dubbed Alt-Rock Band of the Year by local music junkies. Here at Motif, Roots music columnist John Fuzek first noticed Route .44 as an upstart roots outfit throwing together crazy elements of various genres into a richly-saturated oblique tour-de-force. The debut work, âWorthless Lessons,â leaned mainly on the bands roots foundation, coming across as much gospel as roots-rock at times. Despite the fact that band leader and lyricist Ian Lacombe peppered the album with hard-edged lyrics in songs such as âAddictionâ and âWorthless Lessons.â The sound, vocals, and arrangements are an acquired taste, to some degree. Youâre not likely to catch Route .44 on mainstream Clear Channel stations like WHJY, or corporate alt-rock such as WBRU. Thereâs an oblique power and beauty, admittedly not for everyone.
âThis is My Americaâ demonstrates a clear maturation into more forceful songwriting and an uncompromising social critique noticeably absent in this time of war and crisis. âMusic has always been a mirror of the times. This album is a continuance of that tradition,â songwriter Ian Lacombe says. âI have always been a fan of music with a conscience from Anarcho-punk bands like Crass and Conflict to Woody Guthrie and Country Joe and the Fish.
âI think we are living in a time when we need more social commentary in music. I donât think people really want to be spoonfed the latest Britney Spears song about how difficult her comeback has been⦠I mean,do we really give a f&$k about that.â One of the more pertinent and in- your face tracks, âMy America,â indicts American apathy, political deceit and the dark cruelty harbored by human souls. Referencing the albumâs title, âMy Americaâ could double for Johnny Deppâs big âSweeney Toddâ number. A blend of breathless harlequin and burning disdain, Lacombe continues his raw wordsmith excellence. âMy Americaâ would be like Jim Morrison joining Disturbed and bringing his poetic psychedelia on a Warped Tour. Vocalists Jess Powers and Teri Pimley conflate an angelic foil to Lacombeâs demons. But with the new Route .44, halos tarnish fast in an anti-harmony of vice:
Take my money, give me pain.
Put me out on that train.
Again, the way you use me.
I thought I was forgiven,
but I cannot stop my sinningâ¦
I dream of a catastrophe, already in the making.
In which we are like insects, tryinâ to build a hive.
Like drones we all operate
without the ability to think for ourselves
âtill the day we die.
And our queens will just make more of us,
as we succumb to thoughts of lust...
perpetuate our existence to further make us slide.
This is my, this is my America. This is myAmerica.
âAs far as the darker imagery in the lyrics goes, I think thatâs simply a sign of the times,â Lacombe says. âThe world is getting darker, wars are raging, our economy is shrinking, and resources are disappearing. âIn a nutshell, the world shapes the music I present, and personally, happiness isnât really inspiring to me. I donât write love songs because Iâm not inspired by love.â Throughout the 10-track âMy Americaâ disc, Route .44 threads themes of sin, vice, betrayal and fury. The new material has more edge than the 8-member bandâs âWorthless Lessonâ release. âMy Americaâ comes across dirty, sexy, and lust filled, merging more heavy rock, jazz and blues elements than before.
Sax men Matt Swanton and Paul Choquette shine, as does Pimleyâs lonesome viola work, and Eric D. (upright bass), Jud
Lisiecka (percussion), and Rob Champagne (drums) lay the groundwork for vocals to soar, mingle and fall to Earth.
On perhaps the most musically brazen track, âTrinity,â blaring horns, driving bass and percussion are challenged by the lofty
vocals of Powers and Pimley, and contrasted by Lacombe guttural mixing of the parables about Hindu God Vishnu and the first testing of a nuclear weapon. The test, like the song, is called Trinity. Site director for the Trinity test, J. Robert
Oppenheimer, later said that a line from the Hindu scripture the âBhagavad-Gitaâ came to mind: âI am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.â Lacombe uses the line repeatedly. âWhen I was about 19, I really got into researching the development of the Atomic Bomb,â Lacombe says. âI was always enthralled with Oppenheimer. He was an incredibly compassionate man, and a brilliant scientist, whom I think was devastated by his own creation.â At the time, nuclear test director Kenneth Bainbridge reportedly said to Oppenheimer, âNow we are all sons of bitches.â Pithy Americans!
But âStimulus Responseâ lays claim to the most lyrically fierce song on âMy America.â
Down, down, down.
This place burns to the ground.
Desperately, we pursue our happiness like
rats in the street.
When our backs are broken and our
knuckles raw, we work from our knees.
Hope is what we feed ourselves at night.
Have some, itâll make everything alright.
In poverty weâre spoonfed the scraps of a
Bourgeois roast.
A loaf of bread to feed five thousand,
while the CEOâs toast.
We can rise up. We can greet them with a
storm.
Or lay down and accept what is the norm.
âStimulusâ operates as an unabashed political revolutionary call, devoid of any real hope that a response will follow. Lacombeâs lyrical tact points to the obvious⦠weâre all screwed. So stand up, or take it like a beat
dog and just roll over. Thereâs plenty more solid music onâAmerica,â including steamy âLonely
Together,â with a sultry jazz-based groove courtesy of Eric D. âThis is My Americaâ makes the blood
rush fast and hot, makes you smile at the thought of sin and lust.
Jim Vickers - Motif Magazine - April 09