Desert Road sounds like a head one collision at Robert Johnson’s infamous cross roads between Sergio Leone, Gogol Bordello, Tom Waits and Johnny Cash. Joe Strummer and the ghost of the late, great Nick Marsh were along for the ride and there is only a quarter of a bottle of absinthe left. To say that this is merely outlaw country or illicit blues just shows you how bad soundbites are at describing music, for this is something very different.
Rock, blues, country…it’s all in there for sure, there is a touch of punked up Old World musical traditions, barking at the moon Balkan vibes, chaotic klezmer and frenzied folk, but it is the New World that Moonshine Booze is really in love with. Death Melody seems to hold the answers, a brooding dirge which bridges the gap between their European home and their Spaghetti Western hearts, but mostly they are unashamed in their love of this imaginary frontier territory that they have created for themselves. World of Pain is Tom Waits playing cowboy campfire songs, Lemon Box is a punkgrass hoedown and the title song is a saloon singalong on speed.
It’s a world of their own invention but it sounds like a great place to visit, if this album is anything to go by. It is the frontier world of the old west heightened, stretched, exaggerated, intensified, blown apart and put back together in a deliberately haphazard and provocative fashion. So, I have heard the sound track, now where do I buy the ticket?
