Lars Nagel TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS

12 months ago 46

Lars NagelTomorrow Never KnowsSelf Release Punky, Punchy Urban Alt. Country With a New Wave Curve. This review has come about after �closing the book� on reviews for 2023, but out of courtesy I played a track on the radio...

Lars Nagel
Tomorrow Never Knows
Self Release

Punky, Punchy Urban Alt. Country With a New Wave Curve.

This review has come about after �closing the book� on reviews for 2023, but out of courtesy I played a track on the radio show last week and loved it, as did a couple of listeners who got in touch asking for more info on Lars Nagel.
So the next day I played the album out of curiosity and here I am 4 days later, totally smitten. First and foremost I�m always going to lie an album when Track #1 starts with a �1-2-3-4!� and that�s how the Twang infused Folk Rock of Years Go By springs into life. There�s a raggedy, good-time feel as Nagel and band sound like they�ve arrived in the studio after an exhilarating gig and want to keep the vibe going.
There are far too many nods to the influences behind every song here; but at the end of the day Nagel wears them proudly and creates a �sound� that is genuinely unlike anyone I can think of; but still fits in seamlessly to that urban Americana file that is so popular at the moment.
I guess that comes from Nagel�s voice and his clever and astute songwriting; which come together so well on the rustic Fools Way Home and You Will Never Change which somehow welds a Prog groove to a punchy Alt. Country song and was the song that I played on the radio.
It�ll probably wear thin eventually, but I love the studio chat that opens a few songs; giving them a personal and �Devil may care� approach.
�Write about what you know� is the adage young songwriters work to; and Lars Nagel does just that with to very personal songs to and about his recently departed father; and even without knowing that �fact� Old Photographs with its heartbreaking steel guitar interludes and Now That You�ve Left Me are deeply personal songs and bookend his life as a six year old immigrant�s first experience visiting America as a child then his father dying.
So It Goes isn�t a cover of The La�s classic single; but a dour and insightful song about the heartbreak addictions cause but are just taken for-granted these days and just part of every day life and it�s not by accident that it�s followed by the crackling radio intro to Gotta Move gives this pseudo-political observationist song an extra air of mystery, paranoia and urgency in a Post-Punk/New Wave fashion that I might have expected from Ryan Adams or Jesse Malin back in the day.
There�s very much a lot to like here; which brings me to my dilemma in choosing a Favourite Song. Johnny Was Right is a belter that deserves radio play; and will pique the interest of old Punk Rockers who are now America�s middle-class; as Nagel takes his inspiration from the Johnny Thunders song �You Can�t Put Your Arms Around a Memory� but gives his own song a full on Country-Punk makeover in the spirit of Jason and the Scorchers or Dan Baird�s Homemade Sin.
The other; and probably my actual Favourite also takes it�s title from another song I hold dear, but sounds nothing like Nagel�s desperately emotional Country-Folk ballad Love Don�t Live Here Anymore; and it�s a song that I�m sure will be heard and revered in absolute silence when played live.
Normally I don�t take in everything on a Press Release; but Lars Nagel�s story has really caught my attention; not least because he was an �immigrant� to the USA, but also because like many of his contempories has a �day job� that supplements his music earnings; and �. he�s a Tennis Pro!
Seriously �. he was a high-ranked competitive junior tennis player out of Sweden as a young man and now teaches in his down time while continuing as a touring musician, supporting acts as diverse as Little Richard, Emmylou, Humble Pie, Drivin� and Cryin� and The Misfits in an exciting twenty plus year career.