Over the past decade, Gringo Star have explored a variety of ways to peddle their anachronistic elixir of garage rock. Their new album finds the band relishing the comfort of the rock and roll routine while allowing themselves the freedom of experimentation within the bounds of settling down. The project, led by brothers Pete and Nicholas Furgiuele, has been humming along for 10 years now, and without any notable band drama the well-oiled machine seems like it could use a return to the urban landscape, a return to some meaty, blue collar rock with a few more shadows than sunbeams. Instead, Back to the City portrays a band willing to embrace bright, energetic sounds with more boldness than ever.

Gringo Star - Back to the City

It’s possible that Gringo Star’s redoubled vitality springs from a reduced pressure on the band to remain in the indie consciousness than there was on 2013’s Floating Out to See or 2016’s The Sides and In Between. Most of alternative and DIY music has moved on from the garage rock obsession that yielded an internet hit for the group back in 2011, and even though they still riff on the same aesthetic that brought them success, there’s an understanding that it’s easier to stay in a groove when you’re out of the limelight. To be sure, it’s not just Gringo Star; nearly every garage band that had a brush with the mainstream over the past decade has returned to the magical niche somewhere between suburbia and downtown which has nurtured garage rock since the ‘60s. Cult status suits the genre, which will forever revolve around the lo-fi urges of youth, and the same is true for Gringo Star.

According to the band’s press release, the title of the album is a reference to suburbanites reversing course on their long-term exodus from the cities. It’s a complicated issue which first siphoned off the lifeblood of urban communities over the past 50 years and now has resulted in a wash of gentrification. It’s interesting to see such an offhand reference to a fraught sociological problem from a band who in the past have stuck to the more psychedelic side of observational songwriting, but the title track reinforces the band’s interest in engaging with the topic on their own terms. Rather than manhandle a genre that’s historically ill-suited for political hot takes, the group stick to their guns, singing about relationships, travel, and existence in the same manner we’ve come to expect from the band. As a result, Back to the City never strays from addressing the phenomenon in the broadest of terms, a choice which hinders detailed narratives, but allows anthemic jams like “Watchdog” to achieve a comforting universality.

Overall, there’s an ease of consistency to the record, even if it finds the band experimenting with a wider range of sounds than ever. It makes me wonder if the album title has more to do with the band’s own deepening of their roots at home in Atlanta than it does with any greater artistic statement. Even the broad instrumentation and inclusion of string sections—elements that are impossible to reproduce on the road—invoke a sedentary creativity, the type of songwriting which revolves around the studio more than the stage.

For all their vintage allure, Gringo Star have always found ways to rise above the common shallow garage revivalism which can be reduced to Pebbles compilations, western shirts, and tube amps, and Back to the City is no different. The band’s eagerness to mix doo-wop tracks like “Midnight Till Dawn” with hazy, acid-soaked numbers like “La La La” feels loose and playful, even though there’s some serious complexity beneath the relaxed timbre. The album might not be an opus of cultural engagement or philosophical depth, but it aches with a mature sincerity worthy of a band that has survived the grueling indie circuits for a decade and never strays down the dusty trails of sentimentality.

More Info
Web: gringostar.net
Bandcamp: gringostar.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @gringostarmusic
Instagram: @gringostarmusic
SoundCloud: @gringostaratl
Twitter: @Gringo_Star_Atl