Hello Reader,
Welcome back. How are you today?
Today, we’re going to delve into Andrew Browning and the 9 Pound Hammers. The band, led by Andrew Browning is based in Los Angeles. Their sound is unique in the best ways, often combining gritty backdrops with dark cerebral, poetic lyrics amidst a rollicking rock and roll sound. The band was compromised of same members for their first two albums, Blood on the Door (2021), and The Midnight Desert Talk Radio (2022) and work on a third album, saw new additions Chris Lawrence (Mike Ness, Shooter Jennings), John DePatie (Don Randi), Belle Johnson (jlo, Miley Cyrus, Kanye), Sergio Cardenas (Mana, Pepe Aguilar, Jenni Rivera), and Jake Abernathie (Robert Jon and the Wreck) to the band.
That’s right, on Friday, November 22nd comes the band’s third full-length album; Love Is A Beautiful Thing out for your listening pleasure. Browning notes from the album’s press release, “While this record definitely has its Country moments, we were both leaning pretty heavily into our Rock backgrounds to give it some oomph. We felt like we wanted to put as much of who we are and where we’re from into this album as possible, we wanted to make it scream ‘California’.” Spoiler alert, it definitely does scream dusty California. I know you’ll agree after listening.
Giving credit where it’s due. Love Is A Beautiful Thing album credits:
- Andrew Browning – Vocals, Guitars, wrote all songs
- Derek O’Brien – Drums, Vocals, Produced and Engineered the album.
- Alex Arkhipov – Bass
- Jake Abernathie – B3, Piano, Wurlitzer, Synthesizer
- John DePatie – Guitar
- Randy Volin – Guitar
- Buzzy James – Guitar
- Ian Souter – Trumpet
- Sergio Cardenas – Accordion
- Belle Johnson – Vocals
- Anjolee Williams – Vocals
- Stan Dewitt – Vocals, Arranging
- Chris Lawrence – Pedal Steel Guitar
- Jennifer Walton – Violin
- Oliver Walton – Cello
- Engineered by Sejo Navas
- Recorded at 4th Street Recording, D.O.B Sound, Clearlake Recording Studios
- Mastered by Brian Lucey
And now for some hype for your ears and eyes!
This video can be found on the band’s YouTube page. “Preachers of Doom” is a song about consciousness and has a lot of soul.
(All credits and rights to Andrew Browning and the 9 Pound Hammers)
The resilient anthem of “Econoline”:
(All credits and rights to Andrew Browning and the 9 Pound Hammers)
Overall, Love Is A Beautiful Thing, brings a lot of energy and grit. Its sound varies from track to track but there’s also a lot of soul and heart on your sleeve ethos that Browning has incorporated well in his previous albums. Browning proves again that he is a poet of the people, particularly within the outlaw sound scene. Love Is A Beautiful Thing features underlying melodies of outlaw country but also wonderful elements of rock and also roots and soul music. While listening you’ll be transported to different decades past due to the melodic structure and vocal pacing. Defying genres and incorporating music from several cultures. It’s not a World genre album per se but Browning and the bands love for music is in your face throughout the album. Working with the talented Derek O’Brien was a great move in my opinion, as his drum work, background vocals and production brought the album together well into a lovely final product. Within the album, the melodies are perfectly paired with the lyrics and vocal deliveries and pacing. Carefully constructed and well executed. Browning’s vocals are front and center at all times, allowing the listener into a welcome listening experience. Kudos to the band and creative process as well. Those listed above in the album credits each brought it in terms of their talented musicianship.
The album’s opener, “Rock N Roll Cocaine” has a charging melody that includes organ and has an overall sound that to me has a 70s feel which is in slight contrast to the modern days lyrics that tell tales of drug use. A tone setter for what listeners will hear melodically throughout the remainder of the album, though the subject matter isn’t as overtly repeated. The first song that stuck with me after repeated listens to the album was the second track, “Preachers Of Doom” both for its gorgeous guitar work, propulsive drumming and Browning’s vocal delivery paired with thought-provoking lyrics that have you in agreement in no time. The harmonies cemented this song into a previous era in the best ways. “Rose Avenue And Main Street” is the third song on the album and its guitar work stands out, paired with lyrics that tell a neighborhood tale. “Your Love Is Junk” has the pacing of a slow dance song and it works. Once again, the band is all on the same page, allowing all to shine including individual musicians and Browning’s vocals and lyrics about trying to move forward. The next song, “Love Is A Beautiful Thing” showcases perfectly strummed pedal steel from Chris Lawrence, twangy guitar chord progressions, choruses, and individual vocals. This is followed by the song, “Smoke And Grinding Gears” puts you into church with its gospel opening led by choral refrains and organ work. The melody then shifts into a more uplifting in that it sounds and moves like a rock and roll based one. The next song after that, “Falling To Pieces” sees a helping dose of downtrodden lyrics and despondent vocals that match the pedal steel anchored melody. “Dirty Girl” recalls some wonderful times in the past. It is a love letter with fondness. The melody is memorable in its composition (drums, guitars and organ) and pacing. This would be excellent live. Along with a few others so far. Sergio Cardenas opens “San Fernando” with something we haven’t heard within Love Is A Beautiful Thing before. Some accordion. I welcome it. I think most will enjoy it as well! The song has a Southern Cali, southwest, south of the border vibe. A mixing of cultures. And based on the song’s title, appropriately so. The closing song on the album, “Econoline” is a hard-charging beauty. From start to finish, it’s one of my favorite songs on the album. Just gritty, dirty, rock and outlaw country in the best ways. The way you want it to be. The lyrics are a love letter of sorts with gratitude. This will be an instant classic for fans to hear live.
Love Is A Beautiful Thing gets 4 out of 5 Scum Drops from me. There’s a lot to like about this release. The best songs are fantastic listens. These songs probably sound better live though, with the full energy of the band and crowd closer to you. Though I’m sure on vinyl with a good setup this album rocks your socks off. That being said, I think Love Is A Beautiful Thing slides nicely into the middle of the 4 Scum Drops range for all new albums released this year. Which would place it into the 76th-79th percentile relative to all 2024 new albums. I think it is worth adding to your collection on the format of your choosing.
Love Is A Beautiful Thing Track listing (song length)
- Rock N Roll Cocaine (4:40)
- Preachers Of Doom (3:36)
- Rose Avenue And Main Street (3:13)
- Your Love Is Junk (3:58)
- Love Is A Beautiful Thing (3:55)
- Smoke And Grinding Gears (4:15)
- Falling To Pieces (4:11)
- Dirty Girl (4:13)
- San Fernando (3:33)
- Econoline (4:33)
Total runtime: 40:07
I’ll always advocate that you take the time to listen to every album in its entirety. From start to finish, the listening process with Love Is A Beautiful Thing will take you 40 minutes, less than an hour and a half if you listen twice back-to-back. Along the way, you’ll discover your own favorite songs without the influence or bias of others. After a few listens on my own, the songs that are highlighted in green font above are my favorite songs on this album.
The band’s website features easy ways to listen to their past albums and offers tour info. Here’s their Instagram and Facebook pages.
Thank you for reading and supporting good music.
Until next time,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
