Reviewed by Eric Saeger
“Survival is the new American dream,” sings Larson on ‘Own to Rent’, the bummed-down rocker that opens this LP, and even the most ADD-afflicted cynic has to stop in the face of it. An asphalt worker in a past life and formerly of Irish band The Drovers, Larson does know first-hand the horrors of blue-collar-dom upon which his unadorned, unadventurous baritone concentrates for this collection, but it’s not at all outright Springsteen, more a pub/garage exercise with hits, misses and much in between. The production is the weakest selling point, with the backup band sounding like an afterthought under Larson’s voice’s too-loud status in the mix, and come on already, we’re seriously at a point where the middle class has to drop everything that isn’t the mass production of guillotines. But putting aside the notion that American citizens could ever tear themselves away from Grand Theft Auto long enough to take back all their birthrights, these are certainly heroic acts of wordplay, documenting citizens who’ve descended to living under bridges and all that stuff, and once Larson gets his hands on a producer who’ll do the band right, there’s always the possibility of an NPR Fresh Air prop or whatnot.
Grade: B
