In the two years since Derek Archambault released Alcoa’s debut album ‘Bone & Marrow’ in 2013 a few things have happened in his life, some good, and some bad. On the good side of things he got married to his sweetheart Alyssa – who also plays in Alcoa – and his main band Defeater continued their ascension with the fantastic ‘Letters Home’, which has led to the band moving to a new home on legendary punk label Epitaph. Unfortunately in the midst of all of this, Archambault suffered a debilitating injury that culminated in hip replacement surgery in 2014, which could have cut his career short had fans not pulled together via a Pledgemusic campaign to help fund the surgery. There is a light at the end of every tunnel however, and through all of this Archambault found the creative drive to write Alcoa’s sophomore album ‘Parlour Tricks’.
Picking up where ‘Bone & Marrow’ left off, ‘Parlour Tricks’ is full of Americana-tinged, alternative rock. The warm welcome of ‘Old Habits’ starts proceedings, with Archambault sounding more confident in his delivery, and his vocal seeming smoother over the top of the shimmering slide guitar leads that drift into the foot-stomping chorus. There’s also no shying away from the obvious influence that Memphis, TN country-punk band Lucero have had Alcoa’s sound, evident on the glorious ‘All Dolled Up’ which is full of American blue-collar charm and rich harmonies. Archambault showed his penchant for stripping things back on Defeater’s iconic album ‘Empty Days and Sleepless Nights’, and that comes into play on ‘Parlour Tricks’ with ‘It Won’t Get Better’ and ‘Always Chasing Me’ providing the perfect platform for him to bare his soul.
The middle section of the album is particularly sombre, and given the tumultuous ride that Archambault has endured over the last few years it is hardly surprising. The piano led ballad ‘Poison Acquaintance’ is particularly spine tingling, with more vocal from Alyssa Archambault than was present on ‘Bone & Marrow’, but they compliment each other perfectly as you feel the connection between the couple in the song. The folk twang of ’13 Years Bad Luck’ is performed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar to accompany Archambault’s storytelling, and sits perfectly next to the Counting Crows-esque melodic rock of ‘For Holden’. The heart wrenching ‘Famous Last Words’ brings the album to a close in enigmatic fashion, and wouldn’t have been out of place on Bruce Springsteen’s classic ‘Nebraska’ album, another who Archambault has cited as key influence to Alcoa’s musical make up.
You could argue that the world doesn’t need another troubadour, but the world does need Alcoa. It provides a wonderful contrast to the hardcore punk of Defeater, and allows the front man more freedom in his lyrical content away from the complexity of the over-arching story that runs through all of Defeaters output. With the freedom that Alcoa brings Derek Archambault, it has lead to ‘Parlour Tricks’ being an honest, heartfelt and completely relatable album.
GLEN BUSHELL