My Album Of The Week for the week of March 24th-March 31st, 2014:
The Ashtray Hearts - Old Numbers
01. Amusement Park
02. Disaster
03. The One You're Closest To
04. Still Shaking
05. Queen South
06. Anyone's Guess
07. Bryn Mawr
08. Trestle
09. Country Bar
10. Spain
11. Southern Wedding
12. Watching Me Try
As I do from time to time here on my Album Of The Week, I like to take a break from the exhausting task of trying to stay up to date with all the new releases and dip back into Minnesota's vast catalog of great records. If you follow this regularly you may remember that I took a trip back to the early 2000's about a month ago with The Rakes Pass The Lies album. Even though I'd had the album for years, finally committing a week to it was very rewarding.
Old Numbers, the debut album from five-piece The Ashtray Hearts, is from that same period and comes with the same set of circumstances. The album came out in 2002 and I'm fairly certain I picked it up on a whim from Cheapo back in '03 or '04 (I have a real weakness for just heading to the "Local" section and seeing what catches my eye). Despite the fact that I know I've put the song "Spain" on a bunch of mixes for various people, I can't say that I've spent a considerable amount of time with the album since.
The Ashtray Hearts mine the same strain of alt-country/pop that made The Mats Don't Tell A Soul a compelling, if curious, listen. Rather than aim for a sparse, cold-winter sound, the band uses keyboards, horns, & accordions to wrap up singer Dan Richomond's songs like a blanket, giving the album a warmth that separates it from a typical alt-country sound. Throw in Richmond's Craig Finn-esque attention to detail (just listen to "Spain" up above for a great example), and it's easy to see why listening to this record every day this week has been a well rewarding undertaking.
