Crumbler

Behold The Hurricane

The Horrible Crowes

“Behold the Hurricane,” the Horrible Crowes. Whether fronting the Gaslight Anthem, his excellent New Jersey rock band, or the Horrible Crowes, his slightly more orchestral side project, Brian Fallon is a man haunted by his past. The places he lived, the friends he lost, the girls he loved: he can’t stop thinking about what might have been. In his working-class earnestness he recalls Springsteen — young Springsteen, the hungry one. A girl-crazy fuck-up with something to prove.

If Fallon hasn’t written his “Born to Run” yet, he at least seems on the right track — Elsie, the debut by the Horrible Crowes, shows him evolving as a craftsman. Take “Behold the Hurricane,” a gaslight anthem by another name. The song starts big and bouncy, with a gracious round of oh-woah-woah’s for those playing along at home. It’s about a girl, of course: “I remember everything we had,” is how it begins. He’s a sentimental fool, and he talks about women the way your grandpa might. Or your adolescent son. “I heard the mighty rivers cry out her name,” he says, which no he didn’t. ”I saw the heavens and the earth cry over you.” If I could reach the stars, I’d give them all to you! If I could turn back time! 

The thing about Fallon is, he’s not bullshitting. Fallon picked the Crowes’ name after reading an old Scottish poem called “Twa Corbies.” ”It’s a dark commentary on life,” he wrote on his blog. “A knight dies, his woman runs off on him, and two crows sit by discussing how to devour his remains… pretty gross.” How does he relate to this? “I’ve found we all do this, and mainly in relationships, we end up the devourer or the devoured.” The thing is, in his songs, Fallon always winds up the devoured — by a hurricane, by a woman, by his memories. He tries to sing his way back in time and change the past. It never works. He keeps trying. 

(track via 0ldjoy)

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