Album Review: My Autumn's Done Come

[NOT FALL YET] On the song that gave My Autumn's Done Come its name, country singer Lee Hazlewood croons, "Let those I-don't-care days begin/ I'm tired of holding my stomach in." The local quintet, formed last year by five recently transplanted Eugenians, would do well to follow Hazlewood's lead. MADC's debut full-length, Paper Flowers, is an album that sounds as though it's sucking in its gut—but looks best when it lets it all hang out.

The most interesting moments on Paper Flowers' nine tracks of genial rock are the spots where frontman Andrew Hanna's exceedingly careful, assiduously metronomic songwriting loosens up, letting through some needed verve and allowing the band's soul and country influences to peek out. On "Burnside Bridge," for example, an electric guitar emerges from the song's chug-along rhythm for a thrilling but brief solo. "Guillotine" is sharpest when the track's steady two-step stumbles momentarily into a noisy dervish. And on "Broadway Bridge," the highlight is a woozy, almost-psychedelic guitar passage that is also, unfortunately, fleeting.  

The band has room for improvement in other areas: While singer Lilly Maher proves her vocal chops on the jazzy "Wishes," hitting some thrilling, growling lows, Hanna's voice wants for force and range. Mostly, though, MADC's just gotta let its freak flag fly. And the young group, still finding its footing, has time for that—its autumn's far from here.

SEE IT: My Autumn's Done Come plays Langano Lounge, 1435 SE Hawthorne Blvd., on Friday, Dec. 16. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

WWeek 2015