John McCauley, Taylor Goldsmith and Matt Vasquez are all successful and talented in their own right.
Each of them double as guitarists and lead singers for their own indie bands—McCauley for Deer Tick, Goldsmith for Dawes and Vasquez for Delta Spirit.
But as Middle Brother, the three come together to form an indie collective with a self-titled, hot mess album.
There’s a no democracy when it comes to vocals; of the 12 songs, McCauley has the lead for five, Goldsmith for four and Vasquez has three. Each of them rotate between electric, acoustic and bass guitar, but the song styles depend on whoever is singing the lyrics.
With the most songs, McCauley gets to showcase his versatility. On rockabilly upstarts “Middle Brother” and “Me, Me, Me,” the Deer Tick front man showcases his tendency for boozy rockabilly, and on the standout soft rocker “Portland” his gravelly voice is the only thing that keeps it from being a James Taylor doppelganger.
The wistful, finger-picked alt-country cut “Daydreaming” leads into the album with McCauley’s most gentle lyrics:
Can’t I dream another dream,
Can’t I close my eyes and wander back to sleep
But I’m daydreaming about you
I’ve been daydreaming for so long
Goldsmith, the least known of the three, shows his comparable chops, earning some serious indie cred on the six-minute “Blood and Guts.” He replaces his usual soft croon with some earnest and volatile choruses, but he’s at his personal best on “Thanks for Nothing,” a dismal but tender kiss-off.
Vasquez makes the most of his lead chances on the record. On Delta Spirit’s latest record “History From Below,” his songwriting gravitated toward earthy, ramshackle blues. His rustic blues stomp “Blue Eyes” showcases his clever one-eye-winking lines (I’ve been looking for some time/in a room full of pennies for my dime) and on “Someday” he retrofits his blues with a fifties cadence for a fuzzy lo-fi sound. His only other song, “Theater,” reveals him as the most talented vocalist of the bunch—soulful and honest.
On Middle Brother’s debut, the album’s best feature is that it’s not like an album at all. It unwinds like a playlist of Deer Tick, Dawes and Delta Spirit on shuffle. Each of the band mates have identifiable styles but their affinity for earnest Americana rock makes it a well-woven if random effort.
It may be a crapshoot, but McCauley, Goldsmith and Vasquez make it a fun one.
