Alan Lueth: As Punk as Country can go and as far as I can go with Country

Alan Lueth - "Countryside Clothesline"
Label: Flowerpot Records

Who the fuck is ALAN LUETH?! Well, I didn't know either before accidentally tripping over his first full length on Flowerpot Records' Bandcamp. The quirky label out of Ohio is always worth it for some quality Emo, though I normally don't care that much about their Lo-Fi and experimental stuff...

But, ey, this record is freakin' good! So, who is ALAN LUETH? He seems to be a common guy, who is friends with Wes Meadows from Flowerpot Records, and he started out with his solo-run not too long ago. In fact, his debut EP was released last January. Speaking of that EP, he made quite the changes when heading into "Countryside Clothesline". Before he played straight up Lo-Fi-Rock with lots of fuzz and reverb and yelled out vocals. The songs were pretty long and overall this project had a pretty loose, jamming feeling to it.

Two months later he literally turned everything upside down. The fuzz is there in some songs, though these new recordings sound way cleaner, leaned back and streamlined. The feeling is still kinda loose, but this man had a plan when he was going to record these new tracks. Overall, "Countryside Clothesline" is a pretty reduced affair. It's a dude with his guitar and a bunch of songs. Some of the best songs I've heard in a while! He scrapped the electronic guitar, settled for the typical, intimate Singer-Songwriter-setting and recorded the album live in an hour. You get bits of Folk in this, though personally I'd call it "Country", as a lot of the songs or certain parts have an oldschool Country-charme to them. Did I say "Country-charme"? Well, I didn't know yet that Country can be charming, but I guess "Countryside Clothesline" told me!

What's cool too is that ALAN actually sings now as opposed to the EP. It'd be a waste for him not to sing, as his voice is deeply touching and his intonation makes these songs way important... along with the lyrics, for sure. I love the fact that the topics on the record are no overblown wanna-be-epics from someone who takes hisself to serious. Even when he sings about a spent topic like that of big 'ol love he does it with creativity, like in "I wanna be your Dog", where he expresses that he wants to be loved for not much and accepted the way he is, as long as he doesn't fuck up the couch. Besides that, "Countryside Clothelsine" is full of small, personal stories or anecdotes with an interesting take on life. The messages in there are pretty big tho and thought-provoking and charming and clever. Some of these lines are pure gold and the stuff you'd like to be tattooed on your body. ALAN comes across as a reflective and sincere human being with a dry humor and a lot of soul.

Another thing I dig is that the songs -despite their reduced instrumentation- are pretty differentiating to one another. Somehow LUETH manages to give every new song a different character, due to the tone, the instrumentation, the length, the singing, the songwriting, the mood, or everything or something between. Generally the songs are short, to-the-point and pretty much "Punk".  Most of the time they're up-front and loud and emotionally driven. I love the vibe of the whole record and it's full of memorable, potentially timeless songs.

Enough praise already, eh? Sure. So, what's there left to moan about? Honestly, I'd have a hard time trying. "Countryside Clothesline" is 26 minutes of everything that makes music one of the most important aspects in life. 

ALAN LUETH on Bandcamp