BLOODSHOT BILL releases Thunder & Lightning at the Silver Dollar Friday (May 13). See listing. Rating: NNN
Now that Mark Sultan has relocated to Toronto, Bloodshot Bill can lay claim to being Montreal’s finest one-man band. His latest album displays his evocative power to channel all the tropes of 50s rockabilly with chops that elevate it just above novelty status.
Live, the musician plays every instrument himself, and his most impressive is his voice. Bill stretches his endlessly versatile and slightly unsettling vocals in all sorts of directions, barking over classic Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash riffs in a series of yaps, howls, grunts and croons.
Lo-fi but not oppressively so (like fellow Montrealer Dirty Beaches), the album’s greasy nostalgia is tempered by a fair bit of trashy rock spirit. Honky-tonk barnburners like Crazy ‘Bout The Girl practically beg to be played at a dive like the Silver Dollar. But Thunder & Lightning also makes for an amusing, if not particularly deep, listen through a pair of headphones.
Top track: Be Mine Tonight