Truxton
“Self-Titled”
(Substandard Records)
The first thing you will notice about Truxton is that sometimes lead singer Johannes Armentrout sounds like a girl. The next thing you will notice is that bassist Lucas White looks like the guy from “That ’70s Show” that isn’t famous. And then you’ll think that Francis Choung (drums) looks like Sean Lennin. After all of that you’ll think that Truxton is your new favorite band and you won’t be able to listen to the CD enough.
With a stunningly intimate, confessional style reminiscent of the late Elliot Smith, Truxton breathes a bit of fresh air into a genre that too often confuses sloth with introspection. Driven by a healthy influx of Sebadoh sounding guitars and Armentrout’s high registered vocals, Truxton’s eleven-track gem touches on the pain of breakups and the lament of small towns and even smaller minds.
Truxton is at their best when the beat remains more up tempo, inviting plenty of foot tapping and head bobbing, yet occasionally (“Walt’s Stranger”, “Like We Used To…”) the pace slackens to a crawl, putting a damper on the otherwise tangible sentiments the band is capable of producing. Still, as far as Indie rockers go, these three guys from Bakersfield have got something going. You want this one.
