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Sweet Chariot Premiere “Miles Away” from Lean into the Breeze

sweet chariot (photo by Charlie Karr)

Oakland, California, doesn’t quite have the tech-industry gloss of its across-the-Bay kin city of San Francisco, but even that wouldn’t account for rambling sunset serenity of Sweet Chariot‘s second record, Lean into the Breeze. The album, which is due out April 15 through Who Can You Trust? Records and available to preorder now, comes across with a vibe extracted from the smoother end of the heavy ’70s as shades of Southern rock are held over from the band’s 2014 self-released, self-titled debut in cuts like “Wicked Night” and the later, well-harmonized “Over and Over,” the affect bringing to my East Coast ears an echo of a decidedly more Californian, less regretful, The Brought Low, similarly unafraid to touch on twang when so inclined, as on “Let it Start” or “My Front Pages,” but less strictly heavy rock even in the decidedly guitar-led “Miles Away” or “Can’t You See the Wind.” Vocals are shared between guitarists Eric Shea (also Hot Lunch) and Chris Guthridge (Ride the Blinds) while the rhythm section of bassist Doran Shelley (Nik Turner’s Hawkwind) and drummer Chris Labreche (Planes of Satori) provide the fluidity of groove to match the shifts of mood along the way, from “Billy Bliss” working on its night moves to the melancholic closing pair of “Night Light” and “Nothing Seems to Matter,” which touches on some of that wistful Southern nostalgia without going the full-Skynyrd. Something there seems to cry out for a grand piano, but the vocal arrangement is right on and Guthridge‘s winding lead lines certainly get the point across.

Analog production, sometimes used as an excuse for crappy sound, becomes part of the character throughout Lean into the Breeze. The breeze, by the way, is warm. sweet chariot lean into the breezeAnd so are the melodies. There’s a switch in who’s singing lead between “Wicked Night” and “My Front Pages,” which follow opener “Best I Had” — notice the use of past tense; immediate call to something bygone and remembered fondly — that expands the scope of the album as a whole and brings a via-’90s-college-rock vibe to the established classic pattern, but the songs are and remain central as the 10-track/36-minute long-player stretches out into the start-stop swag of “Miles Away” and the genuinely sweet melodies of “Billy Bliss” and “Let it Start,” the move from side A to side B flowing easily like, well, the warm breeze, I guess. Organ shows up and finds welcome on “Can’t You See the Wind,” and “Over and Over” pushes into a more complex arrangement of vocals to preface the closer still to come, but before they get there, Sweet Chariot dip into the three-minute “Night Light,” ahead of “Nothing Seems to Matter,” pulling back on the (relatively) grander feel of the tracks surrounding for a stretch of minimalist sentimentality no less effectively conveyed than anything in either “Over and Over” or the closer still to come. They end with the line “Nothing seems to matter anymore,” which taken in kind with “Best I Had” gives a decent impression of the point of view from which at least a good portion of Lean into the Breeze is working.

Sentiment suits Sweet Chariot, however, and with Shea and Guthridge sharing vocals, the band are that much more able to bring forward a classic but not necessarily backward or reactionary feel. Ahead of the release, I’m happy to be able to host “Miles Away” as a track premiere, and you’ll find it on the player below, followed by the vinyl info from the label.

Please enjoy:

Taken from the SWEET CHARIOT – Lean Into The Breeze LP | WHO-38

Release Date: April 15th
(** Pre-orders shipping two weeks earlier **)

Pre-orders at: https://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/sweet-chariot-lean-into-the-breeze-lp

Edition of 500 copies on black vinyl.
(The first 100 copies include a free Sweet Chariot logo sticker!)

Sweet Chariot comprises singer/guitarist Eric Shea (Hot Lunch, Mover) and Planes Of Satori drummer Chris Labreche – both from the bygone band Parchman Farm. They also landed bass player Doran Shelley, a former member of The Cramps and Nik Turner’s Hawkwind. Ride The Blinds’ frontman Chris Guthridge completes the band with shared singing duties and top-shelf lead guitar playing.

Sweet Chariot on Thee Facebooks

Sweet Chariot on Soundcloud

Who Can You Trust? Records on Thee Facebooks

Who Can You Trust? Records website

Who Can You Trust? Records on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records BigCartel store

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