The Summer Wardrobe
Cajun Prairie Fire (Sauspop)No doubt the Summer Wardrobe could score a spaghetti Western noir – the band’s revolver chamber of shoegaze atmospherics and cosmic country beckons for big-screen accompaniment – but that doesn’t mean it can necessarily write one. Set in a post-apocalypse Deadwood on the Gulf Coast, the local quartet’s sophomore LP, Cajun Prairie Fire, is a rather loose concept album that follows one drug-addled man’s struggle toward spiritual redemption. From the psych-guitar sunset in opener “Highs in the Mid 90s” to the echoes of Pink Floyd rippling from John Leon’s aching steel guitar, the Wardrobe paints a much bigger picture in darkly cinematic hues. In this context, the lonesome, Byrdsian twang of “Ocotillo Sundown” and “One Longtime Feeling,” plus a reimagining of Roky Erickson’s demonic “Mine Mine Mind” as a desert mirage, work surprisingly well, though ultimately vocalist/guitarist Jon Sanchez lacks the ability to draw the listener in and truly bring the story to life.
This article appears in November 7 • 2008.