The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady's debut was one of the best indie-rock records of 2004, a left-field
barnburner packed with rants about busted romance, a beloved jukebox and "war goin'
down in the Middle Western states." Like its predecessor, Separation Sunday is at once
surreal and gloriously sweaty, as Craig Finn rails like a man who's seen too many late nights
and too much bad TV, while his band plunders a seemingly endless supply of sec... More >

Confession booths are for rosary twiddlers, but Bible lore is as American as Sunday school, so I take the scriptural references as tokens of Craig Finn's quality education. And since in my Sunday school, papists like my grandpa were going to burn forever because they never got "born again," I'm glad Finn's guys and gals get "born again" too. At bottom, his people are my people, and I wish them the same shot at heaven my adolescent Billy Graham experience guarantees my reprobate ass. Which is to say that this literature with power chords addresses not only the crucial matter of vanishing bohemias as cultural myth but also the crucial matter of re-emerging spiritualities as cultural fact. From "Lord to be 17 forever" to "Lord to be 33 forever" is a long road, and Finn is old enough now to know it keeps getting longer--and to spread the living gospel that 33 is too good to throw away on myths. (Grade: A-)