Since the dissolution of his hard-pop band Best Kissers In The World in 1995, Gerald Collier has been drawn to the dark side of country. On two solo offerings (1996's I Had To Laugh Like Hell and 1998's self-titled album), he staked out a piece of folk-country property with downbeat, razor-sharp lyrics. With Deer Whistle, his latest band, Collier's twang and melodicism are at their prime.
Joined by former Kisser Dave Swafford on bass and vocals, plus Tom Nurse on drums, Collier kicks up a noisy roots-rock racket on this six-song EP. Like the Meat Puppets' country-fried moments, the hopped-up rhythms and fired-up guitar licks keep the tempo quick. The bummed-out lyrical quotient is met, but the quiet desperation of Collier's solo work is instead rowdy and defiant.
The disc opens with the rousing "Staring Into The Sun", an ode to killing time in the face of discouragement. On "Gone Away", Collier sings in his sandpapery croon, "Nothing like a loss to keep you thin." The music is a perfect illustration; with its jangly guitar and galloping rhythm section, the loss feels inevitable and almost giddy in its offhand fatalism. Deer Whistle makes it all so appealing and driven, you may not even notice the cliffs.
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