Calling the citywide hippie commune known to outsiders as Columbus, Ohio, home, retro-alterna-psych-folk rockers The Main Street Gospel make their Tee Pee Records debut with the casually ominous Love Will Have Her Revenge. The trio take notes from Neil Young (“Getting Through”) and The Black Keys (“I Won’t be Stayin’”), but occasionally let guitarist/vocalist Barry Dean (ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre) go off on a singer-songwriter tangent (“Truly (Hymn),” “Give Your Love Away”) that pulls back from the full-band aesthetic. This interrupts the flow of the album, but also gives some ground to the material, which after a song like the spacey, bass-led “Ready to Shine,” isn’t such a terrible idea.

Although “Ready to Shine,” on which bassist Ryan “Tito” Ida does just that, is among the highlights of Love Will Have Her Revenge, so perhaps The Main Street Gospel would be better off tipping over the edge of the acid folk abyss. It’s hard to say, and in fact, that statement could be extrapolated to apply more or less to the whole album. The first time I listened to it, I barely made it through, found myself skipping tracks later in the record and saying, “Okay, I got it, you like reverb. Next.” On subsequent hearings, though, Love Will Have Her Revenge, with its subtle shifts from quiet to “loud” and back, its subdued movements and airiness, had me hooked solid for the duration. As far as listening recommendations, I’ll say The Main Street Gospel are better suited to stillness than motion. Love Will Have Her Revenge is not the album you put on speeding down the highway, but perhaps the one you put on once you’ve reached your destination and require decompression from the frustrations of traffic, life, etc.

“She’s a Disease” is about as active as Love Will Have Her Revenge gets. It’s not a drum-heavy album, but Adam Scoppa gives a good showing of himself anyway, blended back into the mix among Dean’s sundry guitar layers and Ida’s warm bass. At over an hour long, Love Will Have Her Revenge gives The Main Street Gospel plenty of time to display their full sonic breadth, and they do that before the record ends. Though that might make later ‘70s-style ballad “Lay it on the Line” tedious, the relative clarity of the track (a full-band number following “Give Your Love Away”) is a change nonetheless from most of what the album has offered. There’s tradeoffs to be had throughout the material, but the easily bored or riff-based thrill-seekers will probably want to know that Love Will Have Her Revenge requires as much mood as it gives off to be properly appreciated.

The record does, however, end with another of its strongest moments. “Sweet Summer Rain” highlights the best of The Main Street Gospel’s bluesy side – also heard earlier on “I Won’t be Stayin’” – with retrodelic fuzz groove. The trio sound confident and knowing of what they want to execute with the song and how they want to do it, and if anything bodes well for future releases, it’s the livelier material like “Sweet Summer Rain.” That said, I’m quite sure there’s no shortage of thoughtful hipster types who will have an easy time getting down with the restrained movements on Live Will Have Her Revenge. The one is just as well brought to life as the other, so it’s really a matter of personal preference. In either case, The Main Street Gospel continue Tee Pee’s run of impressive chic neo-psych with an edge of individuality that should serve them just fine going forward.

The Main Street Gospel on MySpace

Tee Pee Records

Tags: Columbus, Ohio, Tee Pee, The Main Street Gospel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 11:50 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.