ALBUM REVIEW: “In the Dark” The Whigs

The Whigs
In The Dark
[ATO Records]

In recent years, the Whigs have been touring partners with the Drive By Truckers, the Kings of Leon and Dead Confederate. From the material on their latest album, however, it sounds as though they’re charting a more mainstream course instead of gleaning inspiration from their time on the road with their established Southern rock tour mates.

Songs like “I Am For Real” and “I Don’t Even Care About the One I Love” thread the needle with ample amounts of college-rock hipster sway. On the other hand, the resounding power pop riffage and memorable choruses in “So Lonely” or “In The Dark” insert themselves in your subconscious like a painful sliver that isn’t easily removed or forgotten. That is, I can’t tell if the album is actually tricking me into thinking it is something that it is clearly not. And for that, I’m starting to develop a Whigs complex.

In The Dark’s more memorable moment of originality however surfaces during the cryptic, slow building tune “Dying.” They set aside the impulsive anthems and hunker down to experiment in an unusual song structure as Parker Gispert’s vocals inch toward the glaring glow at the end of the road, with shallow howls echoing in unison from the rest of the group.

Style over substance may only be a fleeting thing for this trio. In The Dark does offer substantial hints at growth and transformation, but the more time that they spend on the road with the Kings Of Leon, I’m less optimistic that the Whigs will see the light.