Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters come from a mindset of lawless, turn of the century Chicago. Taverns with bourbon, upright grands and gramophones. No surprise with them hailing from the modern-day equivalent, Limerick. The first track “Walking With the Dead” sets the theme for the whole album with it’s opening, vinyl hiss and punchy piano chords.
There’s a general lo-fi feel to the album, particularly evident in “Homeward Bound & Gagged” with it’s rough dobro guitar. There is a great blues influence throughout the album, in a way quite comparative to Queens of the Stone Age. Sometime comparative is a little too clear. The 3rd track “Cornelius T. Ampersand” which sounds like an amalgamation of “Lullabies to Paralyze” into one track.
Third to last is the the track “Firefly” which has a very Eastern European inspired chord progression and beautifully layered vocals. Sadly the EP goes on to the disappointingly bland “Care To Play?” which lacks a hook. It’s derivative of everything that as bad about 90’s alternative rock and sadly takes from the EP.
The final track is “Darker Shade Of Blue” Live on KXLU 88.9FM Los Angeles. Including a live track shows that this is just a bunch of songs put together rather than a coherent album. It shows the songs stand well by themselves but when listening to the album through there’s much contrast which can be jarring at times.
Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters show great potential for future releases but unless they catch you in a way they failed to do with me, I’d give this a miss.