Elsie - CD

Most of US know Brian Fallon as the front man for the Gaslight Anthem, an act who started out in Jersey basements and slowly built their way up to headlining New York's Radio City Music Hall. Despite the success Fallon has had with his main band he's always loved decidedly less rocking acts such as the Afghan Whigs and Tom Waits. The Horrible Crowes - his new side-project alongside longtime friend Ian Perkins - is his lounge-friendly tip of the hat to the acts who have shaped another side of his musical vision. ELSIE is also the most personal release of Fallons career and while the Gaslight Anthems music is loaded with characters and iconography, this album sees Fallon stripping back the metaphors to put it all on the line. While drug addictions, ex-girlfriends and religion all creep their way into these songs, ELSIE isn't a linear album as much as it is a catalog of experiences that are conveyed in a way that was equally as cathartic for Fallon to create as it will inevitably be for his listeners to hear.