It’s been two years since American Music Club reconvened after a ten-year lay-off, but thankfully the band has been able to shake off the cobwebs and get back up to speed. A line-up change aside, they’re amazingly no worse for wear.
That fact is obvious with The Golden Age, a set of songs that finds them as mesmerizing and intriguing as ever. While its title radiates optimism and iridescence, AMC mainstay Mark Eitzel’s laconic introspection mutes the mood while tying songs to circumstance. Not surprisingly then, the album bears plenty of erudite observations. Eitzel’s stoner New York travelogue on “The Windows on the World” is a must-hear, matter-of-fact rumination. The lounge-like “The Stars” is almost snappy by AMC standards. On the other hand, book-ended odes to Eitzel’s beloved hometown (“All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco” and “The Grand Duchess of San Francisco”) might make Tony Bennett reconsider leaving his heart in the company of such unseemly souls.
Eitzel’s sleepy vocals evoke a twilight world of haze and hesitation, where intrusions of dissonance frequently muddle things further. Nevertheless, the hypnotic combination of atmosphere and ambiance creates an unmistakable allure. Forget any notion that American Music Club is merely in comeback mode; The Golden Age is easily their best set yet.
--Lee Zimmerman
