Black Lungs

by Simon T Diplock

Another Alexisonfire man coughs up a side-project

"‘Send Flowers’ is a record that could be accused of using scene connections to skip straight to success, at least it could be if it didn’t owe more to folk-rock stalwarts like Billy Bragg and original punkers like Joe Strummer than it does to the sound Wade MacNeil is better known for."

We’ve got a crisis on our hands. At least, if the rock’n’roll rumour mill is to be believed we do. Word on the street see, is that Canadian screamo heroes Alexisonfire are on the verge of breaking up. Over. Kaput. Of course other sources say all is well and a new album is in the works but cracks as big as cancelled tours and members moving to different countries have started to show. (Breathe a sigh of relief, crisis averted, all is well in the AOF camp confirmed last night in Camden Barfly - AOF Ed) However, if the end is nigh then the spirit of Alexis does have more than enough room to live on. Not just in Dallas Green’s increasingly-popular City And Colour project, but now with Green’s fellow guitarist/vocalist Wade MacNeil and his Black Lungs.

Don’t go blaming MacNeil for coughing up trouble here. This is no last-minute distraction and certainly no old excuse for overlooking his day-job responsibilities. In fact when the Black Lungs first came together four years ago, George and Jordan of Alexisonfire were in the ranks too. Sure, they only played a handful of shows before MacNeil made the project his own but it’s clear that this work comes with the blessing of his other bandmates. Not that MacNeil’s properly flying solo now either mind. 

Ok so Wade is almost solely responsible for the Black Lungs’ songs, employing the gruff voice and energetic guitar playing that will be so familiar to some, but when playing live he recruits a revolving line-up of musicians including members of Attack In Black, Cancer Bats, and Moneen, and then there’s the band’s debut album. Featuring old friend Sammi Bogdanski on piano and Ian from Attack In Black on drums ‘Send Flowers’ is a record that could be accused of using scene connections to skip straight to success, at least it could be if it didn’t owe more to folk-rock stalwarts like Billy Bragg and original punkers like Joe Strummer than it does to the sound MacNeil is better known for.

Album opener ‘A Blessing and A Curse’ rockets into earshot like a old-fashioned freight train but it doesn’t attack like Alexis, it wails and roars like Johnny Cash was still alive and kicking out the jams in a Canadian bar room somewhere. ‘Fire And Brimstone’ flirts with Queens Of The Stone Age grit before Bogdanski’s piano and some tender strings soften it superbly, ‘In Memory’ is a raging but gentle cancer ballad that proves these are songs straight from MacNeil’s heart, and by the time ‘For Her’ rolls around, part fun, fuzzy melodies, part pub-rock sing along, it’s clear why these tracks had to come out like this, under this name.

Here’s hoping his main band stick together for years yet, (seriously, we've got everything crossed) but if it does all end tomorrow then New-Noise is happy knowing Wade MacNeil will do just fine.

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