The Sunset Donkeys have arrived with a raw, unapologetic, and loud anthem. Their first single, "Setting It All On Fire," available through Cleopatra Records, is an introduction and a declaration. Between the band's time-tested lineage and a genre-bending sound that seems both vintage and vital is a call to arms for the revival of primal, emotionally rich, and grandly assertive rock.
A smoldering mix of punk grit, bluesy soul, and British-American rock swagger, "Setting It All On Fire" lives up to its name from the first crashing beat. Bob Wiczling from Adam And The Ants drumming throbs with a livewire tension over which Hal Lindes' distinctive guitar textures, definitely both cinematic and fire-laced and serrated at the edges, are cast. As ever a ghostly shape-shifter, the bandleader brings nimble instrumentalism and a production sizzle that strings together funk grooves and punk urgency in a continuous seam. Glen Lynch's voice carries the spirit of the song. With a voice as bruised as it is bold, Lynch is a working-class poet, howling like a wounded preacher one moment and crooning with gravelly tenderness the next. His performance is the song's lyrical DNA and social commentary in bar-stool storytelling fashion, soaked in booze and beaten hope but always long on fight.
There's a refreshing bluntness to The Sunset Donkeys. They're setting the damn thing aflame and riding straight through the heart of everything rock music used to stand for. Their music cuts through them with shards of influence from The Clash, Otis Redding, The Kinks, and The Who, but always sounds distinctly like them. The Sunset Donkeys are here to make history. And with more new music on the way, this band of rock 'n' roll veterans who long ago embraced their inner electric toothbrushes to aural rebels everywhere might be lighting the fuse on another significant era of rock.