Trip Wire – Once & Always

Trip Wire are back with Once & Always, a more than worthy follow up to 2017’s Cold Gas Giant. As usual, Marty Schneider and Jeff Shelton do the bulk of the writing and their Husker Du meets REM sound still presides. But with Once & Always, the band spreads it creative wings and covers a lot more musical territory – and all of it quite successfully.

Shelton serves as lead vocalist on “Down”, one of the albums early favorites. “Easy Exit” and “Light of the Moon” give us more of that REM jangle and energy we’ve become accustomed to. From there, things deviate a bit – and to great effectiveness.

There’s a subtlety to “Golden Gloves” – an airy melody and string arrangement that make this one really special. Similarly, the almost acoustic “Clear” juxtaposes the more muscular songs perfectly. Additionally, ”Act Fast” has that irresistible guitar jangle that never goes out of fashion.

On a side note, the cover art was created by Scott Gagner – that’s the Scott Gagner who gave us Pins & Needles, one of 2017’s best albums.

Trip Wire’s Once & Always is a smorgasbord of good sounds. Get Trip Wire’s Once & Always from their Bandcamp page (digital) or get the CD from Kool Kat Musik or Big Stir Records.