Ace singer-songwriter-guitarists with a fresh voice but a musically mature head on their shoulders come along once in a while. Austin Meade’s new record, following 2020’s very-well-thought-of Black Sheep, can only reinforce his growing reputation as a rare and individual talent whose time has come, and is here to tell the story of it. This is a contender for Album of the Year – there, I’ve said it.
Texan Meade’s songs, often lamenting a loss of some kind of innocence, are ripe and ribald morality tales peopled by (recurring) characters who seem to be real, recognisable human beings with real, recognisable problems – waitresses, nice guys, romantics, “the girl of my dreams”, letdown queens.
As a musician and writer he’s as versatile and genre-fluid as a Ty Segall, as fun, dramatic and provocative as a Warren Zevon (the late, great) and as seasoned, well-rounded and empathetic as a John Hiatt. There are even shades of the legend that is Jackson Browne (The Pretender, anyone?) in Austin’s socially-aware, of-the-moment songs of USA today, torn right from the papers. It’s a polarised America post-Trump, every man for himself, and, as Austin snarls on grab-your-attention opener, Violation Delight: “It feels so good to fuck you over …”
Abstract Art Of An Unstable Mind never gets overtly political but focuses on the characters and their stories, who they are and what makes them the way they are. Ballsy reality, right up in your grill – if you need it spelled out beyond that, watch the news, buddy, and come to your own conclusions.
With guitars that sound like they could crunch up the contents of a Texas scrapyard and blow it all out into the red dirt desert, and Austin’s clean, expert vocals, there are quips and turns of phrase to lift your eyebrows, riffs to work your neck, grooves that stick to your bones, all expertly played, a rock ’n’ roll treat full of quality and depth. It’s also an album that sounds simply grrreat, meticulously put together, every backing vocal, handclap and cowbell precisely placed for proper effect.
Austin’s voice can be wickedly humorous but is also sure, pure and soulful. There’s no better showcase than on the (almost) title track, which starts out ballad-y before losing its mind for a bit. Sinner Of The City is pure Zevon with a superb riff while Queen Of The Letdown – not to be confused with Late Night Letdown, good too – is a superior modern pop song that would grace a Fall Out Boy record.
There are 19 tracks in all but that’s including four-or-five dramatised radio-announcer links that offer an extra excuse to call this a “concept album” (while recalling a similar tactic on Songs For The Deaf, by Queens Of The Stone Age).
Other stand-outs include Rose Romance (“Must be the wine talking tonight, wasting your time … must be the wine …”). Varsity Type is the “it’s summer but I’ve got the blues” number that various and former members of The Eagles all failed to write, but must wish they had. The beautifully elegiac Loser Mentality could be the best of the lot, the most hooky, most memorable.
Take A Trip launches into it like Foo Fighters and goes on to rock out with the best of them, telling another story, going on a journey – nostalgic, elegiac, beatific. Take A Trip. On The Road. Time passes. Things change.
Dial Tone is one of the great songs about telephones, a beautifully simple guitar riff and a drumbeat, so close to your heart, so tight in your guts. Darker Shade Of Blue is even more riff-tastic.
Meade wrote most of the songs with longtime guitarist/collaborator David Willie. The drummer is Aaron Hernandez and the bassist Jordan Pena. There are also a coupla co-writes with Tyler Bryant and Caleb Crosby of Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown.
Like the blessed output of the aforementioned Zevon, Browne, Hiatt and/or Segall, this is a collection you can put on first thing in the morning on the way to the trouble they call “work”, after the party night just survived, music that salves wounds throughout your shift and shines a light to help find the way home again, before repeat, repeat, repeat – yeah, the album as well as the dead-end job and the long, long nights. Keep on rockin’!
Abstract Art Of An Unstable Mind, by Austin Meade, is out on Friday (October 14) via Spinefarm Records