Alonetown – Troy Petty (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

As with previous singles such as I Am The Dark and Kept, there is still a dark and delicious edge to Troy Petty’s music, but rather than pander to cliched theatrics that is part and parcel of such genres, he instead builds something unique. It is alt-rock rather than goth, deft and slightly delicate rather than laced with bombast and bravado; even when it kicks into its rock groove, there is something fractured and vulnerable about it.

And lyrically, it looks inward rather than the usual tropes of dark music, a soul-searching piece, a dark, back-street opera of a broken, small-town life and of thoughts of escaping its confides. Or perhaps, the same scene played out in the dark, forgotten underbelly of a big city. If you are alone and forgotten and disconnected, the location is just a backdrop, size is irrelevant.

Alternative rock can be many things. But it is often concerned with image and panders to the audience too much. Troy Petty wanders those alternative fringes, just as this song prowls the shaded alleyways of a non-descript town, but he offers a dark mini-opera and a deep song. Maybe it will catch on. I do hope so.