Bring On the Snakes

No one had the drunkard's blues worse in 2000 than Crooked Fingers' Eric Bachmann. The same year that the Archers of Loaf released a final, posthumous album (Seconds Before the Accident), the ex-frontman of that indie rock outfit released a solo album that was a beautiful disaster of drugs and drunks, loving and loathing. Unfortunately, the second release, at least initially, isn't nearly as awe-inspiring as the debut and seems like a disappointment. Given enough time to get under your skin, however, these eight poetic songs hold much to discover — including a newfound optimism on tracks such as "The Rotting Strip" and "There's a Blue Light." That said, Bring on the Snakes isn't so much an emotional or musical departure from the debut so much as a subtle evolution: These songs are simply less obvious and more nuanced than Bachmann's previous work in Crooked Fingers. The only surprise that this album holds for those familiar with the band, then, is that none of the songs are as immediately memorable as the debut's "New Drink for an Old Drunk" and "Man Who Died of Nothing at All."