"I'm coming home / when the bars are all closed," Coyote Bones' David Matysiak croons on "39 Forever," from the band's fine new album, Gentleman on the Rocks. Matysiak's vocals manage to combine the growling angst of Kurt Cobain with the gentle introspection of Elliott Smith; the latter comes to mind when he sings, "I'm coming home to the girl of my dreams / but she doesn't know what is happening to me"), in the process sounding sincere and nostalgic rather than brooding.
The low-fidelity Gentleman on the Rocks sounds like something Sebadoh's Lou Barlow would have released in the early '90s, but that's not to say that its songs feel out of date. From "Let the Burden Be Mine" to "Paint on Your Jeans" to "39 Forever" itself, the tracks add up to an ideal and addictive mix tape — the kind that never gets old or goes out of style.
Listen to yesterday's 'Song of the Day.'
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