Gringo Star (Americana Psych Pop) return to Savannah to share their new album Sweethearts. Recommended for fans of The Kinks, Bob Dylan, The Strokes, Dion.
The Gringos hit Atlanta in 2007, and they were widely known for their musical dexterity, the four members trading instruments song to song. Now with a fixed drummer, that continues but is less obvious. Still, Creative Loafing, the arbiter of "dope" and "cool" in Atlanta, picked the Gringos as the best live rock band in the city.
Characterized by high intensity, sweat-drenched performances, fans and critics alike have observed that every show the band leaves it all on the field. Over and over they have toured the country and Europe, playing night after night and never missing a beat!
Over and over their albums have broken into the top 40 on the college charts. How has Gringo Star survived nearly two decades in a world of country, pop and rap? Thousands of rock bands have come and gone in that time, but they live on. Founded by Nicholas and Peter Furgiuele, with guitarist/vocalist Josh Longino and drummer Mario Colangelo, the Furgiuele brothers have been creating a unique sound since the beginning. It's not just their doggedness although there's that. They broke out of the pack immediately with All Y'all, their first album produced by Grammy winner, Ben H. Allen, III. There are no crowd compositions here: these two song writers astonish the listener album after album with their musical IQ, and each album is a new chapter.
Many bands capture all their creativity on their first album and then re-write the same songs year after year; Gringo Star continues to evolve and no two albums sound alike. They have always been known for their unique sound -- they don't follow trends; they make the music that they love. These boys have shared the stage with everyone from the Killers to Cat Power to Shannon and the Clams to Weezer to Best Coast to Band ofSkulls, and even the Zombies! They have been compared to everyone from the Kinks to the Growlers, but no one can pin them down because their sound is their own. With its eighth full-length album Gringo Star takes a sharp turn into the deeply romantic. Who can blame the band? In a world in which the divisions among us have become the rallying cries for many, isn't it time we turn back to the love and deep emotions which bind us together? "Sweethearts," the band's second post-COVID album, carries us back to a better time, simpler and happier, although at times there's a melancholy and sad imagery here, too. Many of the songs have a dreamy quality, but don't kid yourself, these are complex songs which get better with every listen as the lyrical and musical nuances seep into your consciousness.
A great way to start, the album kicks off with "Shallow Waves" and the line, "Never want to toe the line . . . ." A fitting beginning as the Gringos have always gone their own way. Then on to the dreamy optimism of "Blood Moon," where under its glow, the mood turns sweet and hopeful, as "everything comes true," and then to "Some Things Don't Change," where the band's joyful sound reveals musical knowledge harkening back to the halcyon 60s! But then there' "Count the Ways," as the "same old story begins with two" before the pure romance of "In Your Embrace," "where I found my place"! These are love letters. Valentines. After that we go to "I Sleep to Dream," a catchy melody which hides a bittersweet message of the impossibility of happiness when you're alone, and then into the instrumental, "Girl," which starts as if in a church, but transitions into the bouncy happiness of a beach party. The band next elates us with a rare cover, "Little Red Riding Hood," the playful 60s remake, and from there we enter the longing for love of "Come Back Home" which might have been a hit for Ricky Nelson in 1961, but was recorded by the Gringos in 2024. Next is "A Lonely One," another paean to the longing for love. And finally the ebullient "The Tidal Wave," which will sweep you away in the complexity of its lyrics masked in a musical tour de force.