American singer-songwriter Dave Hause has released his third album Bury Me In Philly.
By Jane Howkins.
Folk rocker Dave Hause recently released his third solo album Bury Me In Philly, and we’re happy to say it shows a man on top form, at least for the most part. Some of our readers may know Hause more from some of the other projects he has worked on (e.g. The Loved Ones, The Falcon, Paint It Black), but his solo work is really worth checking out, especially considering that it is this aspect of his musical career that he will mainly be focusing on in the future.
Hause’s music would best be described as being similar to the stuff played by bands such as The Gaslight Anthem, Augustines, and The Menzingers. It’s americana, mixed with folk, mixed with a punk rock edge, and all those elements work oh so well together. Hause has also been a staple of the Revival Tour – a folk/americana based live tour that travels across America and Europe every couple of years with a revolving line-up. Other well known acts from this touring circuit include Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio, Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, and Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music.
From that you can probably ascertain the sort of music that Hause writes, and it’s an intriguing mixture of styles. Most of the tracks on the album are fairly catchy but there is a harder edge behind them, and Hause’s lyrical storytelling is sublime. Bury Me In Philly is a lot more upbeat than Hause’s previous work Devour (2013), and whilst this may be a bit of a change to fans who loved that album, the songs here still have an anthemic quality to them – just in a more positive light. There are a couple of filler songs here but overall it’s still a fairly good record, if not quite as brilliant as Hause’s aforementioned sophomore release Devour.
There’s nothing on Bury Me In Philly that’s too vast of a departure from Hause’s previous work, but then again if it ain’t broken, why fix it? This is a cracking album, and one from an artist that really deserves to be heard by more people.