The follow-up to his mightily impressive Holy Shakers album of a few years back, Myna Birds was put together last year while Gavin Glass toured the US as part of Lisa Hannigan’s band. Steeped in Americana and recorded on analogue tape in Nashville, it features an impressive cast of luminaries, including members of The Jayhawks and Wilco among others. The sound is sepia-toned, with wonderful brass arrangements, swirling Hammond organs and meaty 1970s guitar textures (think Van Morrison with the Caledonian Soul Orchestra, The Band with Allen Toussaint arranging the horns or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers circa Southern Accents.)
The soul-searching songs are terrific too. The opener and single, ‘Just Like Rome’ is a powerful, Solomon Burke-like ballad, with Glass’ distinctive vocals cutting through like a knife. ‘Minor Miseries’ is a blissful country rocker, blending banjo and brass in the mix to good effect, while ‘Awake on The Weekend’ – a glorious Stonesy rocker with screaming Crazy Horse guitars – surely must have been as much fun to make as it is to hear. With chiming guitars, piano and pulsing rhythm, ‘Prodigal Son’ is a thing of beauty altogether and may be Glass’ best work, vocally, to date. The title track (possibly a nod to Neil Young’s teenage outfit?) features Lisa Hannigan on vocals and former Uncle Tupelo/Wilco drummer Ken Coomer on a gorgeous Band-influenced gospel ballad, while the closer, ‘State of Emergency’, with its mournful pedal steel and glockenspiel, rounds off this blindingly good album.