Photo: Robinette Films
New name, new attitude, new album. That’s the current mantra of Austin’s Meanswell, a reinvention of beloved Austin group The Gents, who after releasing their third studio EP last year, turned the lens on themselves and started working towards a new sound that played to the group’s strengths, and allowed a bit more room for creativity and the ability to carve out their own sound against the grain of the Austin music scene. Under the deft recording hand of Chris “Frenchie” Smith, the result is tantalizing.
“Meanswell,” is the debut single under the new name, and true to the group’s reinvented sound, possesses the beautiful ability to mix the softer sounds of Doo-Wop and Buddy Holly with the growling blues sound of decades’ past, and pouring it into their skillet of personal touch to give it the 21st-century saute.
Catch Meanswell at Barracuda on Thursday, February 1st with Star Parks.
-Taylor Wallace// Host, Thursdays 8p-11p & Saturdays 2p-6p; Producer, Eklektikos with John Aielli