Four albums in and this San Francisco Bay Area quintet (this week anyway; it can vary) are still trying to nail a coherent identity for their indie blues. They’re getting closer with their vibrant, discordant riffs, roaring vocals and a succession of meaty hooks, occasionally broken up by a subtler approach when they sidle up to your side rather than pummelling you in the chest.
But each song is a stand-alone affair. In fact the band has deliberately released 12 of the 13 tracks as a single over the past year. Nothing wrong with that: stompers such as Eye For Love, This Town, She Said Riot and seductive teasers like Cold Like A Killer, Jericho and Greasin’ Up The Doorman are fine individual songs. But it means that Twelve Spells feels more like a compilation than an album.
