From Austin Texas Uncle Lucius are a five piece band who have a busload of talent on board, various members writing and singing lead on their songs which are steeped in the South and feature inventive keyboards and sly guitar. Sound familiar? It’s tempting to compare them to The Band, especially when the horns kick in on the soulful organ push of The Age Of Reason, the second song here. It’s a comparison that can be deadly as it’s unlikely that we’ll ever get another collision of talent as existed in The Band but on their own terms Uncle Lucius deserve at least to be considered along with further comparisons to the likes of The Allman’s and even Barefoot Jerry and Little Feat.
From the opening title song which moves from an acoustic strum into a full barrelled piano romp to the closing full tilt boogie of Someday Is A Far Cry the band roam through a series of thought provoking songs. At times the lyrics are positively existential as on Nothing To Save’s, “Reality’s a battle when fought in the mind, mind is a tool best used to measure time, time is a concept, a construct of man, man could very well be wrong again.” Heady stuff indeed but it’s delivered over a hypnotic and powerful swirl of Stax like balladeering and throughout the album the band manage this mix of swampy rock and questing lyrics. For those who want to indulge in the words there’s a lyric sheet included which will provide hours of scrutinising but overall the band deliver a fine set of invigorating songs that sway mightily, the cool melt of tom toms and swirling guitars on Flood Then Fade Away perhaps the highlight here.
The band are currently on tour in the UK and play in Glasgow on Sunday 6th November at The Hug & Pint.
