Tallying the hits and misses of Dave Hause’s career is a pretty easy task. From guitar duties in the earliest days of Paint It Black via two largely pristine records with the Loved Ones, his route to life as a solo performer has been one shot through with great songs.
‘Resolutions’, his first outing under his own name, was more calling card than finished article, boasting a largely acoustic collection that ‘Devour’, his sophomore effort, picks up from in confident style. This is a huge, old fashioned rock record written and performed by a guy who came up with the punk crowd. It’s lean, melancholy and mighty effective.
‘Devour’ is a full-band album in the classic sense. Where ‘Resolutions’ retained an air of singer-songwriter experimentation, Hause has grown in stature and here commands 12 muscular songs boasting chunky guitars, Springsteen-style piano barbs and his distinctive jagged croon.
Behind the kit is Social Distortion’s David Hidalgo Jr, manning the keys, Bo Koster of My Morning Jacket, while Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison and Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba also pop up.
The album finds Hause in reflective mood, battling with the basic idea of America and what it means, at the deepest level, to hold American values. Having seen his marriage and construction business fall apart in recent years, he’s clambering back towards an even keel, all the while looking back at his roots in order to help him make sense of it all.
After touring alongside Brian Fallon, Chuck Ragan, Dan Andriano and Skiba in recent years, Hause has road-tested these tunes in front of some of the finest songwriters currently operating in punk and alt-rock, and it shows. ‘Devour’ is remarkably cohesive and beautifully put together.
The Great Depression, We Could Be Kings, Stockholm Syndrome and Shine On are anthemic, precisely-honed rock songs with melodies that charm just as the lyrics take shots at your gut. Opener Damascus and Becoming Secular, meanwhile, are brooding beasts, backed by spare, distorted guitar, and Hause has skillfully moulded the tracklisting, perching his introspective message at its various highs and lows.
‘Devour’ is the work of a man coming into his own, a little battered and bruised but still with enough miles in the tank to do something special. This is a big step towards that.
Wed November 13th 2013 - DUBLIN Academy 2
Thu November 14th 2013 - BELFAST McHughs
Fri November 15th 2013 - GLASGOW King Tuts
Sat November 16th 2013 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute
Sun November 17th 2013 - BRIGHTON Green Door Store
Thu December 5th 2013 - SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
Fri December 6th 2013 - LONDON Garage
Sat December 7th 2013 - NOTTINGHAM Bodega
Sun December 8th 2013 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Cluny
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