The Cloak Ox
Shoot the Dog
Reviewed by: Nate Adams
The Minneapolis-based band traffics in songs that serve as a master class in classic rock fandom. The songs within contain homage (and sometime, outright theft) from rock dinosaurs like Thin Lizzy, Boston, Guns N Roses, Eric Clapton and everything in between.
Like fellow revivalists My Morning Jacket, The Cloak Ox sometimes confuses length for impact. Album opener “Yesterday’s Me” is a song with good ides, but suffers for its nine-minute length and overwrought hair-metal guitar styling. “Josephine” is a Phil Lynnot b-side sound-alike that lacks both the lyrical touch and the musical heft of its apparent influence. The band’s love for its apparent influences is obvious, but their enthusiasm to recreate their sound can be unfulfilling.
Oddly enough, the album’s best songs find the band playing with influences rather than trying to recreate them. “Pigeon Lung,” for example, recalls sythn-rock of Dire Straights without sounding like a product of the 80s. It’s a track that borrows its blueprint from times gone by while remaining thoroughly modern.
“Big Talker,” likewise, succeeds for its modest aims. Based around a Lynard Skynard- sounding guitar riff and a breakdown that stretches its legs but doesn’t try to over take the song, the track ends up being a late-album highlight.
There’s no denying that The Cloak Ox have chops: bands don’t get to make music like this without being good at their instruments. It is likewise commendable that the band tries to sample all of American rock from the past 50 years and not just the well-worn influences. When the band moves away from its influences, its songs really stand out.
Even the band’s most outright reductive songs can’t be docked too hard for their earnestness: Shoot the Dog might not always be the most unique listen, but one never questions the sincerity behind the songs.
Rating: Listenable
