Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Trev Gibb discovers an adrenalised album of moving, personal quests
Gringo
Released: 17.03.23
It’s been 25 years since The Van Pelt’s SULTANS OF SENTIMENT. Let that sink in. This is Artisans & Merchants: pulp lyricism, dashed-off Burroughs-like diatribes. Songs about moving, personal quests, hunting the streets, eating the best focaccia, breaking bread in the grand bazaar, drinking anything in sight.
Grid is amazing, peregrination, shape-shifting through the D.C grid. A muscled song-beast, anything could happen. Not to cheapen it but I had visions of Jason Statham in Crank. He meets a “girl going somewhere”, she’s like ‘loser please!’ All adrenaline, the intersection of angular grids, streets and states of mind, “I could not find my wallet, I could not find my keys.” That’s just one song. Have I sold you on this yet?
