Those that know the Crimson Clay Strays just for their TikTok love tune “Questioning Why” are about to have their socks blown off. On the brand new album Made by These Moments, the Cell, Alabama, five-piece destroy any notion that they’re only a social-media phenomenon and emerge as a blistering rock & roll band, one effectively on its approach to revitalizing a sure model of muscular Southern rock.
Whereas the Crimson Clay Strays have been principally related to nation or roots music for the reason that launch of their 2022 album Second of Reality (they’re nominated for Rising Act of the 12 months at this yr’s Americana Honors), the brand new Made by These Moments veers extra towards the arduous blues-rock of Los Angeles within the late Eighties and early Nineties than something popping out of Nashville at present. Tracks just like the ominous “Catastrophe” and the roadhouse boogie of “Ramblin’” evoke Nineties bands the 4 Horsemen and Junkyard — two L.A. teams that, whereas lumped into the fading MTV steel style, had been distinctly Southern rock of their sounds and influences.
Producer Dave Cobb might have one thing to do with that. Whereas he’s primarily identified for his Grammy-winning work with Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, and Brandi Carlile, he’s additionally an unapologetic hard-rock fan who has made killer information for Slash, Greta Van Fleet, and Blackberry Smoke. When given a band as desperate to bust by way of the gate because the Strays, Cobb simply has to provide them a kick with the spurs.
However Made by These Moments isn’t undisciplined. Crimson Clay Strays singer-guitarist Brandon Coleman leads his band by way of 11 tight songs that by no means overstay their welcome or take pleasure in meandering jams. The group’s lyrics — written primarily by the Strays, together with Coleman’s siblings Matthew and Dakota — really say one thing. “Satan in My Ear” rails in opposition to temptation, anxiousness and self-doubt; “Losing Time” eviscerates the vultures which can be out for each their cash and their soul; and the only “Wanna Be Liked” lays naked humanity’s want for somebody to deem them worthy sufficient.
Typically within the Crimson Clay Strays’ songs, that Somebody is God. The band members don’t disguise their religion, however additionally they don’t hit listeners over the pinnacle with it both. As an alternative, they elegantly weave in calls to the next energy for assist, readability, and reassurance over most of the album’s tracks.
In “No One Else Like Me,” Coleman pleads to be let loose. “I’m a damaged author/I’m a stressed fighter/and I’m searching for a bit of hope,” he sings in his Elvis Presley meets Gregg Allman croon over slide guitar accents. In “Wanna Be Liked,” the group wrestle with the challenges of believing in a contemporary world: “Oh God I have to know you’re nonetheless above.” And in “Catastrophe,” they make their most overt allusion to Jesus and the sacrifice of his crucifixion (“The One we laid down to show darkish to gentle”).
However “Drowning,” a solo write by Strays guitarist Drew Nix sung with a Stapleton growl by Coleman, places redemption and rescue squarely within the fingers of the narrator: “If I can simply discover one approach to keep afloat/I’ll discover my means again to shore once more.” All he asks is that the world throws him a lifeline.
The Crimson Clay Strays might not explicitly be out to proselytize, however Made by These Moments does have the ability to transform — no less than to rock & roll.
