Posted on: October 19, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve always wanted to be a cowboy. You know shoot bad guys, ride horses and generally be a bad ass with boots. So here I am in full cowboy attire to preach the gospel of The Upsidedown and their latest release Human Destination, a great album that puts images of a far away world of cowboys and robbers into my head and makes me wanna dance so we know something isn’t normal!

The instrumental intro track Licorice Noir is a great hook ya in as it flawlessly merges into If You are Hell Girl which uses the beat of another song that I just can’t seem to recall right now but they use it perfectly. The story telling ability in the lyrics throughout are great, the duo of the almost country lead singer with the and it’s not as far a stretch as you think– Kim Cool esque female vocalist assisting on some of the tracks really gives it a good feel. Human Destination, the title track really takes note of this as the chorus uses this mix to really put out a great song.

Over the course of this fourteen track LP there’s plenty to note with each song being just a little bit different than the previous one. Black Rainbow completely blew me out of my seat along with the six-minute For That So Betty Rose which would be the song I would choose to ride into my sunset if I lived on planet neo-cowboy. Each track offers something different and fans of The Arcade Fire (or even The Boss), Broken Social Scene or even Mission of Burma will enjoy. So too all of my fellow cowboy/girls out there grab yourself a copy of Human Destination and just dream.

7/10

Key Tracks: If You are Hell Girl, Halo, Human Destination, For That So Betty Rose

The Upsidedown – Human Destination (2008)
http://www.theupsidedown.com
Beat The World Records/Worlds Fair

-Kristopher D. Shepard ([email protected])

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