Chase Perryman and the People Familiar With the Situation (who include bass player Nathan Donaldson, lead guitarist and organ player Daniel Shearon and drummer Cory Flippo) have a blues and classic-rock-infused new EP, Vol. I. The release, which dropped in June, is rife with Memphis-blues riffing that drips like a leaking culvert.
“Killing Kind” opens the EP as a love song beaten out in Motown time with hammering piano by Nate Strasser and complementary backing harmonies. Cue another bleating riff on “How to Love You,” whose meandering melodia and unhurried tempo conjure a sultry heat not unlike the heavy, summery film plastered over Nashville bar hangers with cigarette fumes locked permanently into their shirts.
“Pistol” betrays Southern-rock roots as Perryman insists You’re too much woman for me in something somewhere between an emphatic cry and a twangy snarl that suggests a mash-up of Bob Seger and Skynyrd. Then it’s back to barfly blues on “Why They Call Me” with another catchy, downcast guitar part wrapping around a dark, shadowy bass line that keeps company with Perryman’s disgruntled vocals.
The record finishes with Perryman singing The world’s a bitter place/I know we’re all a selfish race/I know the ones we love, we hurt the most/Because they’re the ones we can’t replace on “Inertia Postponed,” though the album’s first half—which wouldn’t sound out of place in a Broadway bar—is most effective. And that’s a good thing. If you think downtown Nashville sucks, you’re wrong; it’s a lot of fun—you just have to already be plastered when you get there. But I digress.
This is a good record. Maybe someday Chase Perryman and the People Familiar With the Situation will get the robotic jet skis they say they’re after.
For more on the band, visit getfamiliarmusic.com.
