Dangerous & Dead starts off with the title cut, an appropriately ominous-sounding instrumental featuring reverb-laden guitar straight out of a '60s western movie, a steady rhythm picked out on the guitar's bass strings and nothing else. The piece is very cinematic, conjuring images of two gunslingers facing off on a dusty street in the American Old West, staring each other down as the last seconds of one or both of their lives tick away.
The Steady as She Goes is guitarist/singer Tal Wallace and impending doom is an overarching theme in his work on Dangerous & Dead; it doesn't hurt that Wallace has a voice and vocal styling that recalls Jim Morrison, perfect for haunting songs like "The Sea (Your Second Home)" and "Sinking City." On "Pagan! Tell Your God to Ready for Blood" Wallace's singing hints at the about-to-come-unhinged nuance that David Byrne often employs; here a bass drum thumps out a marching rhythm while Wallace sings of tribal ritual over a bed of strummed acoustic guitar.
"Judas Goat" further reinforces the notion that these songs come from somewhere other than the present, a place that sounds extremely intriguing through the music yet a place you wouldn't want to visit in person. With slinky twangy guitar, mesmerizing grooves and vocals verging on downright scary, Dangerous & Dead lives delightfully up to its title.
The Steady as She Goes is an Australian act and fans who don't want to pop to have a vinyl album sent from Oz (well worth it!) can purchase a digital download, available here
Also available from the Steady as She Goes is a 7" 45-RPM single with "Pagan! Tell Your God to Ready for Blood" as the A-side and the funky spooky "Nothing Going on Here" on the flip; the latter shows an uncharacteristically upbeat side of Wallace, the side that doesn't mind if you dance.
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