Artist: Li’l Cap’n Travis
Album: ...In All Their Splendor
Label: Glurp
Tracks: 15
Length: 49:36
Review by: Mike “Rancho Cucamonga” Leech

Li’l Cap’n Travis is the kind of band you would expect to see playing on a dark, sticky stage in some old cowboy bar down South, doing their thing while dodging broken bottles through a flimsy chicken-wire fence. Their music is a ridiculously eclectic blend of twangy country and blistering rock. It’s kind of like Crazy Horse and My Morning Jacket mixed with Havalina and Pavement. You get your Southern rock energy, your tongue-in-cheek charm and your “we know we suck, but we came here to rock” smugness all in one package. And it really really works for these guys.

“Steady as She Goes” starts us out with a lethargic but oddly affecting melody and some alcohol-induced lyrics; “The fishing’s thrillin’ but I hate cleaning out the bone, drinking all alone, talking to myself. Shiver me timbers, the stars are big and bright, another romantic night with no one else.” Next up is “3.2 Beer of Love”, a driving rockabilly masterpiece that ends with one of the catchiest jam sessions I‘ve heard in a long while. “Bar Full of Fans” is another early favorite with an irresistible sing-a-long chorus -- “This ain't her first rodeo, so watch your language, watch your hands. She’s got your beer, and a bouncer, and her boyfriend and a bar full of fans.” -- A bouncy tune destined for classic “drinking song” status.

“Teenage Mustache” finds LCT bringing it down a notch with a beautifully desolate piano ballad. It reminds me a bit of Wilco’s “Reservations”, but instead of lyrics contemplating the uncertainties of love and life, these guys choose to sing about a kid with “braces and a teenage mustache”. “Let Her Dance” further proves that LCT isn’t afraid to sound pretty. But if you’re drooling for more rock and roll at that point, “The Grizzled Ones” soon follows providing a new batch of frantic solos and a trashy, hand-clappin’ beat.

“Broken Headlight” serves as the album’s last of many powerful climaxes with a brilliantly building rhythm assembled atop an equally brilliant bass line. By the time the gorgeous pedal steel instrumental “Crawling Polaris” draws to a close, you’ll probably find yourself baffled at how a fifty-minute record could seem as short as this one does.

If this album isn’t on my “top ten list” at the end of the year, then I’m pretty confident it will be on my “top eleven list“. The bottom line... If you know what’s good for you then you’ll start listening to Li’l Cap’n Travis immediately. And that’s not an order. That’s a threat.