The Hold Steady
Separation Sunday
Rogue/Inertia


I can still vividly remember the first time I got a taste of The Hold Steady - at a Halloween party before the guests arrived, one of my friends took me to the main chamber which was lit only by candles and party lights. He was insistent that I listen to this band that I'd never heard of and cranked it up nice and loud. Swapping between the left and right speakers, I heard words being spat out in an American drawl and a slightly erratic voice, "She said always remember/never to trust me/she said that the first time that she met me/she said there's going to come a time/when I'm going to have to go with whoever's going to get me the highest". Then everything kicked in.

A super-tight rhythm section with two singing guitars playing with each other over the top - the sort of music you can imagine being played in some dingy old bar with the band just jamming out song after song...Or while cruising along in your car at 140k/ph.

That was my introduction to The Hold Steady - it changed my life. Since then, literally, not a day has gone by that I haven't put on something by either The Hold Steady or their predecessor, Lifter Puller.

Vocalist Craig Finn takes the listener on journeys - whether they're all completely true or not, it doesn't matter. You get introduced to the seedy underbelly of mid-western America: the drugs, the people taking the drugs, the people selling the drugs, the stories of redemption, the stories of being born again, the victims, the whole scene.

There's one lyric in How A Resurrection Really Feels that particularly moves me because of the imagery - "The priest just kind of laughed/the deacon caught a draught/she rocked up to the Easter mass with her head done up in broken glass/she was limping left on broken heels/and she said Father can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels."

After listening to the album, you already know this girl's back-story.

The album is full of stories, catchy big rock-riffs and, most importantly, Finn's unmistakably urgent and expressive voice. Everyone needs at least a bit of The Hold Steady in their life. I just hope I've done the record justice.

Sam Vinall