The incredible Larry Fleet is set to release his highly anticipated new album this coming Friday. His unique brand of folky, soul-filled country music is awesome. We’re big fans of him here at Overtone, but on track and live, and have been waiting rather impatiently for this for a while! Let’s dive right in!
‘More of That’ opens things up in perfectly chilled-out fashion. His amazing country-soul sound shines through perfectly with the acoustic instrumentation and his powerful vocals. The positivity through the track is awesome too, and very much up Larry’s street in terms of theming. The chorus, while still fairly simple, is a bit bigger in terms of instrumentation, and incredibly catchy. There’s a slight hint of southern rock to the track too, especially when they drums kick in a bit more in the chorus and second verse. And we get some awesome little lead guitar licks throughout too, always catching my ear. It’s an amazing song in its own right, and the perfect way to open an album like this!
The steady, acoustic-folk pace continues through ‘Baseball on the Radio’. A simple verse builds perfectly into another huge chorus, designed to be played to huge festival crowds. It’s beautiful, and once again just fantastic, feel good music. Fleet is such a great storyteller, and really makes you live in each moment with him on tracks like this. Lyrically it’s fantastic, and his vocals are as smooth as butter. It’s impossible not to love it, and it’s another great song. One easily for the playlist!
‘Hotel Bible’ and ‘5:25’ continue the same style of slower, simple acoustic-country. Both are great songs, with the latter even being a big highlight of mine. However, both are pretty similar and it’s hard not to group them together, especially if I don’t want this review to run for ages and be me gushing like a fangirl throughout!
‘If These Walls Could Talk’ picks up not only the pace, but also the rock and the soul again. The organ was a nice touch, adding even more depth to the song, and the drums keeping a steady pace throughout for the guitars to play off was great. And, it once again builds to an awesome chorus, maybe my favourite on the album! It gives off vibes of everyone from Drake White to War & Treaty, and I can’t get enough. Some awesome guitars run through the bridge and the final chorus too, once again adding so much to the sound. Another massive highlight track, and one of my favourites he may have ever done!
Other tracks like ‘Both Sides of the Fence’, ‘Another Year Older’ and ‘If I Still Was’ are more typically steady Larry Fleet songs, packed full of beautiful vocals and some really thought-provoking lyrics. Whether it’s mourning the passing of a loved one or the differences between us all, or being newly sober, it’s all done in such an insanely relatable way. Larry has somehow become an even better songwriter and lyricist than he was before, and it makes every single song on this release stand out, even when some have pretty similar vibes and pacing.
Meanwhile, ‘Whole Lotta Little Things’ and ‘Drunk Advice’ are more rockier numbers. It’s very much Southern rock, and on the slower side of it, but the change of pace was nice after a few folkier numbers. The soul is still very much present in both tracks too, which I always love from him. The latter here is another big highlight for me, but both are awesome tracks in their own right! Definitely worth checking them out if you like the more southern side of country!
The closer, ‘American Made’, feels like a culmination of everything before it. A slightly higher pace, some rocky instrumentation, yet plenty of folk and powerful lyrics and delivery, too. Oh, and it’s yet another phenomenal chorus. It’s another song up there with one of my favourites from the guy! It’s a great way to cap off the album too, showing off everything he does so well!
Overall: This is an awesome release! It’s exactly what I expected from Larry from a sound and a quality perspective, and he once again knocked it out of the park. Every song is amazing and really gives the listener an insight into his life and the music that inspires him, while there are more than a couple of massive highlights! If you are at all a fan of Larry or his particular blend of country music, this is an absolute must for you. It’s easily up there with his previous three albums, and the perfect follow-up to Somewhere in the South. I’ll definitely be spinning this plenty in the coming weeks!
The Score: 9/10
