{"id":5914,"date":"2016-03-15T10:48:15","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T10:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T22:03:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T22:03:14","slug":"album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Brian Fallon &#8211; Painkillers"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/025c13e15e04522bc19622fde19fd599\/tumblr_inline_o43e8lbRhe1qztcot_540.jpg\" width=\"250em\" alt=\"image\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>Since breaking out with 2008\u2019s <i>\u2018The \u201859 Sound\u2019<\/i>, The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s <b>Brian Fallon<\/b> has consistently proved his worth as one of America\u2019s finest modern songwriters. Now with TGA put on hold, <b>Fallon<\/b> has made the jump to go solo, albeit not for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Decorated by Butch Walker\u2019s polished production, the soft, alt-country tone provides a welcoming support to <b>Fallon<\/b>\u2019s gravelly and thoughtful words. Opening track <i>&lsquo;A Wonderful Life\u2019<\/i> is upbeat, optimistic and spirited, whereas <i>&#8216;Among Other Foolish Things\u2019<\/i> flourishes off playful guitars and an overall whimsical tone.<\/p>\n<p><!-- more --><\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere the jangly and infectious <i>&#8216;Smoke\u2019<\/i> is dominated by handclaps, highlighting the country-centred approach. At the other end of the spectrum is the somber and (slightly) sweet <i>&#8216;Steve McQueen\u2019<\/i>, a poignant highlight with swooning blue steel guitars and <b>Fallon<\/b>\u2019s raspy, compelling voice. <i>&#8216;Nobody Wins\u2019<\/i> charms you as it rides on a nostalgic wave with <b>Fallon<\/b>\u2019s \u201cpop\u201d sensibilities on show amongst plucky acoustic and warm backing harmonies. Likewise, <i>&#8216;Long Drive\u2019<\/i> swoons in a ballad-esque fashion that is reminiscent of Johnny Cash as Fallon sings about an absent love.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no doubt Fallon\u2019s songwriting talents shine on <i>&#8216;Painkillers\u2019<\/i>. A constant storyteller, he can capture your attention through a set of confessional (<i>&#8216;Open All Night\u2019<\/i>) and optimistic songs. Every song has an admirable narrative, even if the overall style lacks a lasting punch, while the soft, middle-of-the-road instrumentation makes the record often feel flat. Ideally the lively, punk-fuelled sound of TGA would have bridged the gap between the past and present. However <i>\u2018Rosemary\u2019<\/i> does its best to fill this void, serving as one the albums most accessible offerings.<\/p>\n<p>Whereas Walker\u2019s production ties everything together for authenticity, <i>\u2018Painkillers\u2019<\/i> sees a fine songwriter sounding content in an ideal Americana skin. Overall, it\u2019s an intriguing but promising new chapter for <b>Brian Fallon<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>3\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Painkillers\u2019<\/i> by <b>Brian Fallon<\/b> is out now on <b>Island Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Brian Fallon<\/b> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/brianfallon.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thebrianfallon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/thebrianfallon.tumblr.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tumblr<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/thebrianfallon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/thebrianfallon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCl21ueE68oCQrj4OgPJGkMg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by S\u00eaan Reid (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanReid86\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@SeanReid86<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since breaking out with 2008\u2019s \u2018The \u201859 Sound\u2019, The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s Brian Fallon has consistently proved his worth as one of America\u2019s finest modern songwriters. Now with TGA put on hold, Fallon has made the jump to go solo, albeit not for the first time. Decorated by Butch Walker\u2019s polished production, the soft, alt-country tone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[175,3874,3873,12398,3875],"class_list":["post-5914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-brian-fallon","tag-island-records","tag-painkillers","tag-sean-reid","tag-the-gaslight-anthem"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Brian Fallon - Painkillers - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since breaking out with 2008\u2019s \u2018The \u201859 Sound\u2019, The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s Brian Fallon has consistently proved his worth as one of America\u2019s finest modern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Brian Fallon - Painkillers - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since breaking out with 2008\u2019s \u2018The \u201859 Sound\u2019, The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s Brian Fallon has consistently proved his worth as one of America\u2019s finest modern\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seanreidportfolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-15T10:48:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-21T22:03:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_inline_o43e8lbRhe1qztcot_540.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"S\u00eaan Reid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"S\u00eaan Reid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: Brian Fallon - Painkillers - Already Heard Staging","description":"Since breaking out with 2008\u2019s \u2018The \u201859 Sound\u2019, The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s Brian Fallon has consistently proved his worth as one of America\u2019s finest modern","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: Brian Fallon - Painkillers - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Since breaking out with 2008\u2019s \u2018The \u201859 Sound\u2019, The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s Brian Fallon has consistently proved his worth as one of America\u2019s finest modern","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seanreidportfolio","article_published_time":"2016-03-15T10:48:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-21T22:03:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_inline_o43e8lbRhe1qztcot_540.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"S\u00eaan Reid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"S\u00eaan Reid","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-brian-fallon-painkillers\/"},"author":{"name":"S\u00eaan Reid","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/484dc00e54dea89663d06cb624a70cd9"},"headline":"Album Review: Brian Fallon &#8211; 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