Amazon.com Son Volt's weary music, especially the deliberate voice and words of frontman Jay Farrar, is a comforting mystery; its suggestive flashes of phrase and image seem every bit as wise as they are inscrutable. On Wide Swing Tremolo, the band's third effort, the band's trademark blend of brooding guitar rock and atmospheric pedal steel is subtly touched up with dissonant harmonica, distorted vocals, and uncharacteristically loping rhythms. At its best, as on the dread fortune-telling of "Medicine Hat," the pulsing sound and dense lyrics reveal a kind of portentous mystery. Farrar obviously labors over his complex and poetic lyrics, but his idiosyncratic phrasing and slurred delivery (although always emotionally affecting) already slightly obscure his messages. Why he would choose to bury what wisdom he has to share in such a thick, unenlightening mix, remains a mystery of a much more infuriating sort. --David Cantwell Product Description Son Volt's Wide Swing Tremolo is the 3rd album from one of the most widely hailed American bands of recent years. Stretching out in their own studio with a collection of some of vocalist/songwriter Jay Farrar's greatest songs thus far, the album has an upbeat, immediate feeling to it that reflects the band's drive to expand and further define their distinctive sound. Featured tracks include the 1st single/video "Driving the View," "Medicine Hat" and "Flow." Review No one does the soulful twang-and-burn better than Jay Farrar and Co. -- Entertainment Weekly The blues-rock riffs and distorted vocals of the opening Straightface should help separate the group from its alt-country tag. -- USA Today, ISBN13: B00000DAG8 ISBN10: B00000DAG8 Material Type: audioCDAmazon.com Son Volt's weary music, especially the deliberate voice and words of frontman Jay Farrar, is a comforting mystery; its suggestive flashes of phrase and image seem every bit as wise as they are inscrutable. On Wide Swing Tremolo, the band's third effort, the band's trademark blend of brooding guitar rock and atmospheric pedal steel is subtly touched up with dissonant harmonica, distorted vocals, and uncharacteristically loping rhythms. At its best, as on the dread fortune-telling of "Medicine Hat," the pulsing sound and dense lyrics reveal a kind of portentous mystery. Farrar obviously labors over his complex and poetic lyrics, but his idiosyncratic phrasing and slurred delivery (although always emotionally affecting) already slightly obscure his messages. Why he would choose to bury what wisdom he has to share in such a thick, unenlightening mix, remains a mystery of a much more infuriating sort. --David Cantwell Product Description Son Volt's Wide Swing Tremolo is the 3rd album from one of the most widely hailed American bands of recent years. Stretching out in their own studio with a collection of some of vocalist/songwriter Jay Farrar's greatest songs thus far, the album has an upbeat, immediate feeling to it that reflects the band's drive to expand and further define their distinctive sound. Featured tracks include the 1st single/video "Driving the View," "Medicine Hat" and "Flow." Review No one does the soulful twang-and-burn better than Jay Farrar and Co. -- Entertainment Weekly The blues-rock riffs and distorted vocals of the opening Straightface should help separate the group from its alt-country tag. -- USA Today, ISBN13: B00000DAG8 ISBN10: B00000DAG8 Material Type: audioCD , ISBN13: B00000DAG8 ISBN10: B00000DAG8 Material Type: audioCD