slow-dog.album

fight
silo the huskie
(half life)

Admittedly, I'm not a Midwesterner, and truth be told, there's places I'd rather be living. It's not all bad though, and one of the good things is the sheer number of fine Midwestern indie pop bands that dot the landscape. Admittedly the Midwest is a big place, so any thinking person could have deduced that there would be a few good bands in all these states, but it still took me by surprise. I mean, as a transplanted west-coaster, the thought of the city of Louisville having a "scene" was pretty earth-shattering. Mostly I was just an ignorant bastard, but I've been here a while and am doing much better now, thank you.

I say this all as lead in to the review of this album, because Columbus's Silo the Huskie is firmly planted in the Midwestern ethos. And if you listen closely, you'll hear that slight twang which shows that Ohio isn't that far from Kentucky.

The comparisons flow too easily: pick a band that you would classify as distinctly American (I'll get you started: Built to Spill, Wilco.......) and you're zeroing in on Silo the Huskie. A little more tuneful than some, not quite so country as others, but clearly cut from the same cloth. Fortunately, the tent is big enough that all of these bands can comfortably carve out their own piece of territory without sounding like clones and rip-off artists.

Silo the Huskie is a band with its feet firmly planted in Ohio's soil, and Fight's biggest strengths are when it embraces this fact. "Hotel Mary Appalachia" and "Overneath the Underpass" are standouts, and I can't believe that "At Least Ohio" hasn't become an anthem for disaffected Ohio youth with its screeching guitars and its pop-perfect chorus:

I can't remember the cover
of the last magazine I read
carry your leaving sentence
just like a virus in my head

The album isn't completely successful. For one thing, when the band slows down, so does the fun, but it's negatives are worth overlooking for fans of the genre. Overall, Fight is a fine album and worth a look.

Silo the Huskie concert review