Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Nightroamer (2022)

Raised in a fundamentalist Christian home that only allowed classical and worship music listening, Sarah Shook went full-on with their rebellion—naming their first band Sarah Shook and the Devil. That evolved into the Disarmers by 2013, and much has been made of the North Carolinian's bad-ass country-punk bona fides since then. But the band's third album—while full of bad-ass songs—shows surprising facets. Delightful "Stranger" is a poppy and upbeat kiss-off, like if Brandy Clark had written a song for Dusty Springfield: "I'll tell you what I told all the other fools before/ Baby, you ain't no game changer/ Don't drop by to say hello … Please be a stranger," Shook croons against Aaron Oliva's honky-tonk upright bass. (Note that they broke their childhood musical fast with records by Belle and Sebastian and the Decemberists.) "Been Lovin' You Too Long" nods to '70s Los Angeles canyon country rock, and "If It's Poison" is pretty enough to be a Felice and Boudleaux Bryant '50s charmer. Shook, meanwhile, shows off their—no other word for it—disarming vocal chops, somehow melding outlaw country and jazz stylings. Terrific "Talkin' to Myself" has the pointed elbows and jangling guitar of college rock circa 1993, while primal "Believer" finds Shook coming on like a country version of Dolores O'Riordan. Hell, the chorus of "I Got This" sounds like it could be from a Natasha Bedingfield song; that might sound like a side-eyed slight, but the songbird lilt and reggae-ish guitars are an appealing curiosity. But have no fear, there are plenty of full-on alt-country moments. Irresistible "No Mistakes" is as outlaw as it gets, with a juke joint chorus and renegade guitar; it conjures up concert scenes from Willie Nelson's movie Honeysuckle Rose. (It's also as romantic as Shook gets: "Well I ain't makin' no mistakes like the last time/ I ain't just keepin' you around as a pastime.") You wouldn't be crazy for thinking you were listening to old No Depression-era songs with "Somebody Else" and the tear-in-my-beer title track, which showcases Shook's impossible-to-corral voice sliding and swerving all over the place. And "It Doesn't Change Anything" is classic barroom country, underscored by Adam Kurtz's excellent pedal steel. "The devil on your shoulder is your only friend/ I've walked the path you wander now and I know it well," Shook sings, each word chilling and unabashed. "Each step a reminder, each day a hazy hell/ God is dead and heaven's silent, death has lost its sting."

TRACKLIST

1. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Somebody Else
2. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Been Lovin' You Too Long
3. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - If It's Poison
4. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - No Mistakes
5. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Nightroamer
6. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - It Doesn't Change Anything
7. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Stranger
8. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - I Got This
9. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Believer
10. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Talkin' to Myself