The Book of Dirty Love, by Highway Child
As soon as I turned on On the Old Kings Road — originally released last year, now serving as the Elektrohasch debut from Danish garage rock four-piece Highway Child — and heard the powerful brew of “Lonelytime Blues,” with its potent mixture of The Beatles‘ “Oh! Darling” and Queens of the Stone Age‘s “The Sky is Fallin’,” I knew this was the kind of band who, when they’re at the bar talking to your girlfriend after their set, you don’t get up and go to the bathroom saying, “I’ll be right back.” They’ll be gone and you’ll be left with a tab that — wouldn’t you know it? — includes a not insignificant amount of packaged goods to go. No way man, if you gotta hit the head, you hold it. You’ll feel better later.
They take dirty blues and the chic swagger of modern ’70s revival indie and throw in just enough testosterone to make it realistic and basically, what they really want is to make out. As the “Sit on my face and tell me that you love me, come on” chorus (accompanied by some guitar oddly reminiscent of The Talking Heads — it’s weird, but it works in the song) of “Highclass Bitch” attests, the raunch on On the Old Kings Road is thrown in with a kind of childish charm that — given a considerable boost by the catchy songwriting and overall simplistic nature of the tracks — works out to a fun balance. Not one I’d play at the family reunion, but it’s perfect as a catalyst for one of those sunglasses-wearing moments where you’re driving and you feel like you’re the coolest motherfucker on the road even if none of the other cars know it. Even if no one’s looking. Even if you drive a Volvo.
The whiteboy blues get acoustic on “Gold” and “High” and earlier on the John Lennon-esque “Branded a Fool.” “High” has a classic rock influence I can’t quite place, but is a wholesome, almost folksy, track that shows more than just the horndog side of Highway Child. Patrick Heins?e turns in a soulful vocal performance on it and the untitled eighth cut, leading right into the classic guitar groove of “Love for Sale,” with a well-geared solo by six-stringer Paw Eriksen just after the one-minute mark. A closing title track comes off thicker than most of what came before, with genuine fuzz on the guitar and a driving snare from drummer Andreas Henriksen, and though there isn’t much structurally innovative about On the Old Kings Road, the band is comfortable in their style and able to play around where others might stick to straight riffing and soloing. That might be their strongest asset.
Rounded out by bassist Christian Norup, who offers low end stomp to the single-ready “Change Yourself,” Highway Child are the kind of band that could be a huge success in the States with the right kind of budgeting and hookups. They’re musically accessible and stylish, but still edgy and raw in all the right spots. There are parts of On the Old Kings Road just waiting for an iPod commercial and parts that will drunk you under the table and smoke your lungs into tar. But just be careful, because whatever mood they’re in at the time, they’re always in the mood for your special lady.
