Review of The Black Heart Procession's CD "Amore del tropico"

The Black Heart Procession: Amore del tropico

It took a couple of listens, but now I have TBHP filed comfortably in my musical catalogue of a brain cross referencing: The Pixies, Wilco, Grandaddy, and Grant Lee Buffalo. There is a distinct whiff in the air of Americana, Mexicana, Lo-fi Country, Surf guitar and Blues rock across what is a film soundtrack of an album.

The bands forth offering is the first not to be simply titled with a number i.e. 1, 2, 3, Amore del Tropico. It coolly slips around in the shadows wearing all black, adorned with a pearl trimmed cowboy hat and set of boots. Subtlety is the word hear and the tempo never creeps far above lilting, reverberating around a dusty bar way down south. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of playing this album a hundred times, but if I did I imagine it is only then that I would truly begin to appreciate it. My first taste had it down as dull, my second as atmospheric, my third as filmic, by my forth I was remembering tracks I liked previously and by my customary fifth and final listen I was enjoying it.

It's a grower but perhaps not fast enough, some tracks still merge into one another and with 17 to get through a lot of the subtlety gets missed. On saying this I doubt the album could have been any shorter to maintain it's overall effect. This will miss a mass audience and is truly to a mature music lovers tastes. Any one of these songs would fit perfectly to a Tarantino movie soundtrack and would certainly be the making of TBHP.

Find related articles: grant lee buffalo, mass audience, mature music, surf guitar, filmic.