Homesick

Still staking their claim to the elusive land where alt-country and shoegaze overlap, the Tractor Kings have returned after a five-year layoff with their third album, 2008's Homesick. Leader, vocalist, and guitarist Jake Fleischli has joined forces with a new guitarist for this set, Johnny "Chemical" Davidson, and between them they conjure a thick cloud of neo-psychedelic sounds over Fleischli's tunes. This music sounds at once trippy and organic, rooted in the melodic traditions of country music but with enough jangle, fuzz, feedback, and effects box manipulation to take this music someplace the Bottle Rockets or Old 97's wouldn't dream of going (though the Volebeats might consider it). Bassist Aaron McCallister and drummer Josh Lucas nudge the performances along with an easygoing patience on songs like "Black Hole in My Heart" and "At Sea," while turning up the tempo on the livelier (and more traditional-sounding) "Never Comin' Back" and "Saddest Day" (two numbers where Fleischli's vocal resemblance to Jeff Tweedy is especially clear). Fleischli's songs clearly respect the traditions of country and twang-oriented pop, and the ten new originals here are quite good (and suit this band better than the cover of Dylan's "Master of War"), but it's what happens when Fleischli and Davidson begin playing with the frameworks and let their guitars do the talking that Homesick really takes off, and this is that very rare album that might actually have been improved if the band had been encouraged to jam a bit more. As it is, Homesick is still impressive and engaging music, and hopefully the Tractor Kings won't have to wait another half decade before recording their next effort.