
THE HOLD STEADY
The Price Of Progress (Thirty Tigers)
The Hold Steady aren’t necessarily a band that demands attention. But attention is essential if you’re going to get the most of their fantastic musicianship and lyricism, especially on latest album The Price Of Progress. Craig Finn has been doing his best to make a case for music without melody for the past 20 years; his vocal delivery – rhythmic, musical, expressive – so rarely settles on a set pitch, you wonder if he is playing some sort of obtuse game with the band that backs him.
A six-piece since 2016, The Hold Steady have continued to create widescreen panoramas of greater and greater musical expression over the course of nine albums. The Price Of Progress is the third album in a row produced by Josh Kaufman, and the relationship is obviously working well, with this album almost as good as 2021’s Open Door Policy. Check out Distortions Of Faith and Sideways Skull to hear a band working at comfortable extremes.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
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