If you ever get a chance to take a time machine back to the late
’60s, bring Blitzen Trapper with you. The baby-boom generation would
have embraced the Oregon folk-rockers with open arms. Eric Earley, the
band’s singer and songwriter, loves Neil Young, bluegrass and songs
about nature. He mixes the road-weary inflections of Bob Dylan with
— fast forward to the ’80s — Tom Petty’s nasal drawl and
rootsy grit. The Black River Killer EP feels like a long-lost
part of old vinyl collections, full of sprawling American rock songs
and gentle ballads. Blitzen Trapper have sold several of these songs on
a CD-R at live shows, but now they’re making them more widely available
as they work on the follow-up to last year’s Furr. The title
track opens the EP with ominous synths, crawling guitars and Earley’s
tale of a psychopathic murderer — the harmonica-heavy “Silver
Moon” kicks up the drums for a road-trip-worthy tune, and “Shoulder
Full of You” sets the mood for seduction. Black River Killer is
short and sweet — a great bunch of songs from a band that’s only
getting better. — Sills
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2009.
