It isn’t always easy to know from which angle Yardsale is coming. One moment, this Louisville combo grits its teeth and charges at you with a riff-based rocker (“Until I Can’t Remember”), the next it tugs at your heart with sublime pop (“Reflection”). Throw in happy hooks like the ones in “The Bullet That You Dodge (May Be Your Own),” and it just makes twangy stompers like “Dream of Amarillo” seem directly out of left field. The suspenseful, steamy “Mississippi’s Flooding” comes from nowhere and makes for a gorgeous midway point. If there is a criticism, it’s perhaps that Yardsale can overdo it with overdubs (sometimes it seems too many people are singing at once), but at the same time, every track adds value. So even while it may seem on first listen that Yardsale isn’t sure what it wants to be, this collection is well-crafted enough to be sticky. Thus, Knock Alley West sounds better every time you listen, and before you know it, you no longer care about angles. That’s probably the best compliment for any band.
This article appears in January 20, 2010.
