From the opening moments of the titular ‘Stockholm’s’ jawan brood, it’s easy to establish that All This Huxley present a form of raw indie presence perhaps last seen in as unvarnished a form when Wilco first hit the scene 25 years ago. Technically alt. rock but verging in directions relative to folk, punk, and blues alike, these genre-bending savants blur lines in pre-established musical norms with their sound in a way that would only sooner be replicated by the names that they present in the ‘Band Members’ section on their Facebook page.
A follow-up to their titular 2017 endeavor, Home, Stockholm further expands upon the band’s
They lean harder on the blues with the mid-tempo slammer, ‘Dunkirk’, another searing guitar solo in-tow, before vibing into a place between the likes Elliott Smith and Monoral with the understatedly off-kilter vibes of ‘One of These Things’. Leave it to All This Huxley, of course, to wrap things up with a harrowing, seafaring tale with ‘Ring Buoy’, too, tightening their further-established sound in a bow.
While nothing on Home, Stockholm quite obviously verges on folk as ‘Two Feet in the Sand’ did on their previous endeavor, All This Huxley emerges as a band with a more centered sound on their latest. That sound is something that calls back to many of the great indie rock-slash-Americana bands of yesteryear without becoming trite, and is a welcome inclusion to the musical landscape where everyone else is trying to be just a little more complicated.
Words by: Jonathan Frahm (@jfrahm_)