Album review: Amigo the Devil Bridge City Sessions (Live) EP
Stripped down with just an acoustic, a banjo and an aching soul, Spicewood, Texas singer / songwriter, Amigo the Devil bestows the haunting and earnest songs for his latest EP Bridge City Sessions (Live). The record dropped last week. With a re-imagined take on the classic sounds of folk and country, Amigo the Devil pulls emotions in different directions. The listener is not sure to laugh or cry, bringing to mind familiar, universally thematic memories. The four tracks on this EP were recorded in Portland, Oregon while on tour.
A little clearing of the throat sets off the EP before a giant smack to your subconscious, with the opener “Cocaine and Abel.” The first line: “Distance from the man that I am, to the man I want to be..” Immediately there is intrigue, the guitar plucking hushes and lifts as you wait to see where the story goes.
With a melancholic quivering vibrato, the earnest and painfully descriptive “First Day of The End of My Life” paints a picture in your heart that hits close to home. Death again rears its ugly head, as the gentle guitar playing of Amigo the Devil compliments the dismal mood.
The mood lightens up a little bit (but just a little) with a song that I think everyone can say, fuck yeah. On the song “I Hope Your Boyfriend Dies” you’ll chuckle at the witty chorus, its even catchy, but then Amigo the Devil punches you right in the gut with some deep words. This song would be an awesome late-night bar sing a-long.
The EP closes out with the more upbeat and at times frantic “One Kind of People” where Amigo reminds us that there is truly only one kind of person, no matter how indifferent—people who die. The quirky and funny lyrics gives a somewhat light-hearted view on Amigo’s favorite theme—death.
Bridge Sessions (Live) EP allows for the in-the-moment and raw emotion of Amigo the Devil to really shine, amid so much darkness. It makes space for the songs to breathe new life captured in the live recording. The common thread that ties the songs together is Amigo the Devil’s fascination with mortality. Death, whether looking at it in a serious way or tongue in cheek, is reality. Amigo the Devil throws it out there uncovering the taboo and telling stories about real life, and real death. His tour is kicked off October 11th in San Antonio.
The local upstart plays Barracuda Saturday (Nov. 16). See the full list of Amigo the Devil tour dates here.
