The Incorruptibles – Leave It At The Door | Album Review

theincorruptiblescd2The Incorruptibles – Leave It At The Door

www.theincorruptiblesband.com

Self release

14 songs – 42 minutes

The Incorruptibles are three piece band based out of Milwaukee, WI and Leave It At The Door is their debut album, containing 14 original tracks of toe-tappingly irresistible rockabilly and blues.

Opening with the eponymous title track, the music explodes out of the speakers with a joyous confidence and a smile as big as Montana, while the rhythm section of Bill Siebert on drums and Amy Ashby on upright bass lay down a seriously swinging foundation for Jimmy McCarthy’s voice and guitar. Ostensibly about a club where you can “take that jive and leave it at the door” and escape from your day-to-day problems, McCarthy’s lyrics demonstrate a sharp intelligence: “Her day’s been going down the tubes like all the rest; the bossman’s chasing her all round and round his desk. And when the day is done, she faces one more test – at home, the old man, he’s a sorry mess.”

“Leave It At The Door” is swiftly followed by the shuffle of “Crazy Kind”, which benefits from guest Leroy Deuster’s wild pedal steel. Ashby takes the lead vocals on “Crazy Kind” and McCarthy and Ashby alternate responsibility for singing throughout the album (as well as sharing all the song writing credits). The two lead singers have differing but complementary styles, which helps to add to the balance of the album.

The majority of the tracks on Leave It At The Door are upbeat and made for dancing, from the traditional rockabilly of “Is That So Wrong (How Was I To Know)” and the blues shuffle of “That Will Never Do” to the roots-pop of “Laugh Out Loud”. This latter song, together with “White Alligator Shoes” (with its glorious chorus of “She’s a hussy in white alligator… a hussy in white alligator… a hussy in white alligator… she’s the talk of the town in her white alligator shoes”), comprised the band’s first single in May 2014 and both tracks are featured on Leave It At The Door. “Nothin’ But The Blues” has an early rock’n’roll feel while “Just The Way You Want Me To” has a slightly funk/soul edge with a lovely solo from McCarthy. The closing track, “Estoy Borracho”, essentially an instrumental with the title words uttered at irregular intervals, has hints of the music from south of the border and is played like the band were really channeling the song’s title.

As one might expect from a three-piece, McCarthy takes the vast majority of the leads(the only non-McCarthy solos are Deuster’s pedal steel on “Crazy Kind” and Andrew Spadafora’s roaring sax on “Devil In Her Eyes), playing short, punchy-yet-melodic solos with a notable range of tones and effects. But The Incorruptibles are all about the band. Ashby’s righteous upright bass playing on tracks like “Lowdown And Dirty” or the swinging instrumental, “Come Hell Or High Water”, is an object lesson in how that instrument should be approached while Siebert’s drumming is subtle yet musical throughout.

With sparkling production by Steve Hamilton, the band successfully treads the fine line between sounding utterly confident in their material whilst still capturing that key element of excitement that makes the music come alive.

Leave It At The Door is an extremely impressive and enjoyable debut from The Incorruptibles. Great stuff.

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