[rating=9.00]
Well goddamn. It’s rare that a band releases a burner for their sophomore album, the kind you listen to the entire way through and then hit repeat.
Yet Portland, Maine duo Muddy Ruckus do just that with Pretty Bones, the follow up to their 2014 self-titled debut. The 12- track LP is loaded with summer anthems that elicit feelings of invincibility and implore innate hip shimmying.
Ryan Flaherty and Erika Stahl, who make up Muddy Ruckus and are also partners in life, are legit dance hall crashers. They shroud each track in versatile guitar and edgy percussion from the outset. The album is a beautiful paradox, with a sound reminiscent of foot-stomping delta dance parties that weave in lyrics that are both optimistic and darkly introspective times. The jive tune “Make Things Right” is a perfect example with its swing guitar and brooding lyrics: We Fight and fight and we always lose sight/ I am going to hell with you tonight/This poetry I have inside for you is killing me.
Flaherty is throaty and raw on main vocals during songs that feel confessional, like “Goodness Knows,” I’m a better man than you think I am/ Well I almost lost my soul just about a year ago, it fucked me up real bad…What you do when your alone and how do you hide your shame? Stahl is complete percussive knockout from the start adding force with her relentless pulsating drum peals.
The pair also brings Americana ditties like “Die For You” to an apex with their intense, passionate vocal rounds Die for you/ Die for you/ Die for you, crescendoing guitar and steady subtle drumbeat.
Flaherty and Stahl’s work is distinctive in that the two never overshadow, but rather consistently compliment one another. Even when Flaherty might be the obvious lead on lyrics or he is playing strong, electrified chord progressions on the guitar, listeners can’t help but note the steady, nuanced heartbeat of Stahl’s suitcase drumkit that is the backbone of all of Muddy Ruckus’ songs. It is this that makes it impossible to think of a Muddy Ruckus that could exist without the twosome.
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