Sonic Reducer

 

A fine guitarist, Tijerina makes the mistake of putting the lyrics first on his band's latest release, Welcome Home. It's sweet that he's written a song about his son, but that ode and the rest of the lyrical content distracts from the killer guitar playing on the record. The performances are solid here, but the lyrics and melodies are sadly second-rate. Tijerina has the chops necessary to become a great blues guitarist, but the buck stops there. Neither exceptional vocalist nor lyricist, Tijerina would do well to hook up with one or the other and concentrate on guitar heroics.

 

Something about this collection of songs is charming. Is it that they're sloppy and haphazard, or is it that they're sincere and full of honest mistakes? What's the difference?—the hate mail I get will all be the same. I love this band, I love their songs, but I hate the "we recorded this in Slim's living room" slop. The voices are fantastic, the performances bristle with electricity and I wish the Darlington Horns had enough pride in themselves and their music to save up enough money and spend the time to make a real record.