Hometown – Dru Cutler (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

When you look at an artists “about me” or biographical blurb and check their listed influences, it often says more about what they want to sound like or what they sound like in their own head rather than describes the music that has just burst from the speakers. It was very strange, therefore, not to mention totally gratifying to find that as I listened and read, I found that the influences listed were more than just a nod to Dru Cutler’s record collection or aspirations. For all the myriad of sounds and styles suggested by musical roll call, I found myself mentally ticking them off as I listened to his music.

Hometown drives down a fairly straight heartland rock groove, it is wonderfully spacious, considered, clean-limbed and the lyrics are an emotive and reflective nod to the places we all remember before we took steps out into a wider world. And whilst it is the sort of song that everyone from Tom Petty to Neil Young would bite your hand off to call their own, it is Infinite Moons that tells you so much more about the potential of this artist.

Here we head into territory more often defined by the likes of Wilco, Arcade Fire or Rogue Valley drifting ambience locked onto more solid structures, unexpected dynamics, the sound of new sonic pathways being explored – cosmic Americana for want of a better term. Hometown is the type of song that will get them through the door in large numbers but it is the cinematic feel and fragility of Infinite Moons that will remain the talking point.