“Hey hey hey, I want to feel everything // Love as a tidal wave, pain as a razor blade // All of the weight, everything.” That’s what we hear Dan Sheron sing in Novocaine, one of the fourteen original songs he recorded with his fellow band members of Balto for their new album, No Hard Feeling. It’s tempting to quote more lyrics, because line after line is memorable here, but perhaps it’s even more that mix of emotions, which goes together with variation in tempo, instrumentation and intensity, that makes this record so appealing. The Californian roots rock quartet tops it off with heavenly harmonies, captivating guitars and a grooving rhythm section, wrapped up in a warm sound—it’s all done so well that this would have made my year-end list if it had come out a few weeks earlier.
No Hard Feeling is out now digitally (self-released).
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