Country Risque launches their next album with “Motorcycle Johnny,” the first taste of As the Crow Flies and a revealing insight into the evolution of the San Francisco gay country institution. The single is out now, and the second album will be released through California’s Nudie Records.
With “Motorcycle Johnny,” Country Risque take the classic country sound of the 1950s and push it into a harsher, more electric territory. In the process, alt-country, heartland rock, and the hardscrabble geography of the Pacific Northwest all become touchstones, lending a harder edge to the tune, but still in the spirit of its original influences.
A story of independence inspires the song, featuring a debutante caught in the suffocating traditions of high society who finally finds her way out in the local honky-tonk. The passage from confinement toward liberty is the track’s strong narrative motor.
The visual world of the music is just as singular. Rock ’n’ roll radio, motorbikes, sockhops at the union hall, these are clear signifiers of the 1950s. Yet, Bromfield’s dreamlike imagery and enigmatic word choices lend those familiar details an almost nightmarish feel.
It’s like a vintage memory, via something slightly twisted, familiar, evocative, hazy on purpose. Country Risque blends basic country fundamentals with a coarser, modern vibe to create something that feels tied to the past without being stuck in it.
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