Denver band, Achille Lauro, just got back from touring and sent me this MP3 out of the goodness of their talented hearts. It’s a track called “No Brakes” from the latest album, Indiscretions. The band’s dubbed the song as “a pop track, for sure.”
The song opens like a southern gothic dirge, much like the old-timey singers who lamented the inevitable execution of Everett and his sidekicks right before the miraculous flood saved them all in O Brother, Where Art Thou. The horns kick in for the transition to a new school bluesy vibe a la Ryan Adams’ “Touch, Feel, Lose.” And then all the angst melts away as that brass kicks into high gear and almost, almost, sends us across country borders and through the Gulf of Mexico. Ultimately, it’s subtlety only hints at far away lands; we’re not free of these shackles yet.
I asked the band what influenced the interesting blend of genres that is “No Brakes” and was told, “We get really jealous when we see other bands having fun on stage. So we decided we’re gonna have way more fun than them. So in conclusion, we’re influenced by fun.”
Hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.