City In A Room. Local Drags

With Mess Of Everything (2023) and Keep Me Glued (2021) Local Drags found itself on the blog before. With City In A Room the band from Springfield, Illinois, returns a little over a year with a new album and a tremendously fresh sound. If a song was able to sparkle, the album would be totally disguised from all the glitter and glamour oozing from it.

Well, band? Local Drags is a one man project. Lanny Durbin writes, plays and arranges everything. On three tracks the lead guitar is played by Neal Klein. The recording and other technical stuff was done by Brandon Carnes. Can you hear that everything was recorded separately? Of course not. Local Drags sounds like a band and soundwise it is.

City In A Room opens vibrantly. 'Modern World' is an oh so nice alternative rock song. The chorus is heavenly, with its driving rhythm and powerful playing. A great solo kicks in. It is the second song that sparkles. It has a great intro, I suppose played by Neal Klein also, who gives the intro so much extra. He gives the opening duo of songs a real kick, making me pay attention to the album. Don't forget to pay attention to the small details, like the mellotron like sound that ends and start the first two songs.

'Cave' is a song that could have been played by traumahelikopter by the way. Fans of the Groningen band should find their way here. It has that self same pace and vocal power. Durbin has provided the power this song needs to shine. The same goes for 'Left In The Sun'. Guitar melodies fly around my ears, while the rhythm just goes and goes. I would almost forget what pleasant a voice Lanny Durbin has. He does not need to do anything excentric, just sing the best he can is more than enough.

The album is more diverse. Next up is an alternative ballad, with an acoustic guitar as driving instrument and a warm Hammond sound behind it. A hint of country, not more than that, and a little Neil Young mixed with Buffalo Tom playing acoustic. That describes 'Mess Of Everything' best. Country does move in a little more with 'Keeping Score'. The acoustic guitar comes forward even more prominently. What stays, is that sparkle in the song. It shows the range Local Drags dares to operate in. Lanny Durbin shares his different musical sides with us and we get the better for it.

The alternative rock returns, even moving towards circa 1980 powerpop-rock. By now you will have gotten the gist of City In A Room. Local Drags has produced a fine album. It's time more people pick up this band.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order City In A Room here:

https://localdrags.bandcamp.com/album/city-in-a-room