[LINK] The Daily Texan -- Indie, country efforts impress with new sounds
Artist: The Gougers
Album: A Long Day for the Weathervane
Label: Lone Star Music
Posted: 10/9/07

You've got to love dual lead singers, especially when the two voices are as different as those of Jamie Wilson and Shane Walker, the driving engines behind the Texas-based Gougers. Wilson's nasal tone and twangy articulation and Walker's understated and subtle tenor provide the kind of variation that's rarely heard in the world of Americana. The strength of their voices and exquisitely picturesque lyrics lend themselves to sonic diversity that switches genre at the drop of a hat. Indeed, their latest release, A Long Day for the Weathervane is as hard to categorize as it is easy to spin. The only category that it neatly falls into is "mellow," the overriding aesthetic of all 11 tracks is one of being laid back. The tempos never exceed moderate and allow plenty of room for vocal interplay and interesting arrangements that include old-time acoustic timbres, swirling guitar and very tasty organ work by Rami Jaffe. Lyrically, the duo prefers pictures to narratives and paints vivid portraits, especially on "Everybody Knows," "It'll Get Better" and "Riding in a Lincoln Continental with Sylvia Plath," Walker's ode to loneliness in a bar, which, apart from possessing an incredibly witty title, brings being drunk and alone in a bar into new territory. Between the vocals, the song writing and the musicianship, this album is loaded.

- Justin Patch