Blood Meridian - 'Kick Up The Dust' (V2) Released 24/07/06

Be warned- the new offering from Vancouver’s Blood Meridian and hotel-room project turned Americana monster is not a record for those looking for sunset soundscapes and bourbon fuelled sing-alongs. Crack out the razorblades ladies and gentleman Matthew Camirand is back, and here to call you names till you cry. ‘Kick Up The Dust’ is Blood Meridian’s V2 debut and a well matured yet just as sour and cynical album, as fans would expect, the guitars weep, the drums swoon and the vocals could only give hope to those on prosaic…enter the world of Blood Meridian.

Americana, in essence has mainly been about straight forward love songs and campfires and girls leaving on trains, but the end result is that things kinda get better, not so with Camirand and his bunch of cohorts. Mixing a spit-in-your-face punk attitude with a country flair that reeks of whiskey fuelled recording sessions and future mental illness, the skies are slate grey, someone’s pissed on the campfire, the girl is never coming back and the train has broken down. It’s awesome. First time round, Blood Meridian can come across as extremely depressing and somewhat down beat, but given time the 12 tracks on this record get under your skin as this whole new take on bluesy Americana is refreshing and holds a flame for country tinged acoustic rebellion.

Kicking off with lyrics like “It’s been one week since I’ve seen you girl and I feel like I could die” it becomes obvious that Camirands penchant for no-bull heart on his sleeve lyrics has certainly not changed, as ‘Your Boyfriends’ Blues’ is a tale of a an ex getting back at the new boyfriend just to piss him off, taking a beating but still proud at getting a shag. This fuck you attitude is rampant through tunes such as ‘Work Hard, For What?’, ‘I Don’t Believe’ and ‘Soldiers Of Christ’ with weapons coming in the form of organs, harmonicas, acoustic and fuzzed up electric guitars ready to shoot you down every time you think the mood is getting nice.

The theme being that of aggression, throwing away any niceties to expose the true harsh nature of Camirand’s song writing is not one that is easy to endure, as this album doesn’t want to be your friend nor does it want to console you, yet for some reason you are inexplicably drawn to it as tracks like the gospel rock dittie of ‘Let It Come Down’ churns up stand up and shout emotions next to preacher organs, where the droning guitar riffs build up to a massive choral sing along on title track ‘Kick Up The Dust’, and the beautiful ‘Try For You’ warns of the infidelities of youth yet still sounds sweet as a rose. The album almost takes the persona of a girlfriend/boyfriend whom you really love but won’t love you back, telling it like it is, that you are alone and nobody likes you, but they feel the same way too, so it’s ok.

Never disappearing too far into the pitfalls of stereotypical acoustic blues, ‘Kick Up The Dust’ is a crazy album that would cause fights with the folk category in your CD collection, yet wouldn’t sit comfortably in with the blues crowd. A decent album that is full of brilliant musicianship and honesty, with memorable tunes. Let’s hope we see more of these guys n’ gals.