Moonlight Towers

Day Is the New Night (Chicken Ranch)

Simply put, there’s not a hair out of place on this album. No elongated creative indulgences, deliberate obtuseness, or cheap gimmicks – just nine rock-solid barroom pop salvation songs that bypass the moment in favor of something that will never go completely out of style. Alcohol-fueled power pop is at the center of it all, but Moonlight Towers is way too scuffed-up for skinny ties. The James Stevens-led local quartet’s third LP is loosely informed by the tension between wanting to make it past closing time and a looming sense of mortality. That trope is particularly pungent on the driving rocker “Not a Kid Anymore.” Borrowing its title from Neil Young, “Comes a Time” arrives soaked in the bittersweet recognition that every safe harbor is ephemeral. If the violin swell that ends the chorus doesn’t put a lump in your throat, you haven’t lived enough. After years of sure-handed live performances, this is a permanent exclamation point.

***.5

This article appears in May 13 • 2011.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.