ALBUM REVIEW: “The Throes” Two Gallants

Two Gallants
The Throes
[Alive Records]

How a pair of 21 year olds can construct a record so bluesy, so bare, so downright brutal and so full of tortured experiences is beyond me. But SF natives, Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel, evoke such a world…an old western world filled with crumbling lives, thwarted pursuits and unending despair.

Released last spring, the duo’s debut is literate and direct without burdening with pretension. “Crow Jane” is a searing confession of living through past shame: ‘Cause it makes no difference which way I smile. / I ain’t good lookin’ from a quarter mile. / Once had a woman call me angel child. / My reputation keeps me on trial.’

With only guitars, drums and a harmonica (as well as Stephens’ unique, twangy voice) The Throes is raw, emotional storytelling. Little wonder knowing that the pair took their name from the sixth story in James Joyce’s Dubliners.