Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Reviews Revisiting Cassavetes' Faja Blues
Posted by Max Blau on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 2:26 PM
"Young Hearts"
Faja Blues opens with “Young Hearts,” a sincere anthem with a heavy dose of Bruce Springsteen-influenced rock. Horlick incorporates the best of the Boss into the album’s opener, crying out “when we were young hearts, and when we were crying / when we were special, and hermits and dying” with a sense of urgency and hopeless romanticism. Horlick’s knack for storytelling remains Cassavetes’s ultimate strong suit, narrating his stories with nostalgia at one moment (“we're singing torch songs / we're singing swans / we're putting out fires that are already gone”), while remaining pensive and earnest at others (“if you hadn't died / I would've found you / it would've been alright”).
At times, however, Cassavetes lack a certain musical cohesion, trying out their hand at one too many different things. “People Get Old (Older People)” is a fish out of water as the lone punk rock track on an Americana record. Ultimately, Faja Blues leaves listeners yearning for more of the Springsteen within Horlick. Despite its minor shortcomings, the album remains a big step forward for Cassavetes, resonating as warm, alive and one of the Atlanta’s best-kept secrets of 2010.
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