Say Zuzu
Every Mile
Mill Town Records

by William Michael Smith

Left home at twenty-two
Found out that money and dues
Were all he had to pay for being on his own
-- Cliff Murphy, "Don't Leave"

I suppose after six albums, it doesn't really matter what the guys in Say Zuzu were thinking when they picked such an un-rock 'n' roll band name. I suspect if they'd realized they would be around this long and now spreading their reach around the world, they might've thought the name thing through a little better. But that's spilt milk. Forget about it.

Strange name or not, these New Hampshire alt.rockers have put out their strongest effort yet, twangy, driving Every Mile. Not only are they a tight, polished band, their songs are some of the best lyrics and melodies I've encountered in quite a while in their genre. With reminders of everything from Wilco to Tom Petty to Steve Earle to Jackson Browne to the Replacements, there is a certain derivative element in their sound, but that is pretty much the status quo for bands these days (if you don't hear Steve Earle channeling the Beatles, time for a de-waxing of the old earlobes, my friends). Say Zuzu has been at this long enough now that they've derived their own derivation.

On Every Mile Say Zuzu doesn't mess around with a lot of frills or production whistles and bells. Mostly recorded in one ten-hour session at Ardent Studios in Memphis during a car repair phase of one of the band's marathon road trips, the sound consists of big, basic, crunchy guitars by songwriters/singers Cliff Murphy and Jon Nolan and a tight rhythm section of bassist Jon Pistey and drummer Tim Nylander. Murphy and Nolan have been playing together for 15 years and although they keep their songwriting efforts separate, they perform together as a smooth, practiced duo, whether they are riffing off each other on full-blast rockers like "Lonely" or harmonizing on one of their smart, quieter folky rockers like the Steve Earle-ish "Independence Day," which although written well before Septemeber 11 has undoubtedly taken on a new meaning in the aftermath. Told in the form of a remembrance, Murphy has written a song for our age.

Do you remember how we'd sit, way back in 1976
When the future seemed so bright in the Bicentennial?
Though I was only four years old
I can remember how you'd hold me
On your shoulders to the watch the men walk by
As Independence Day parades on by again

Stand up all you old men
Shake the dust out of your limbs
And the memories of better men dying at your side
Still you serve and protect
And hide the dark truths in your chest
So we all still believe it was neat and clean

Patriotism aside, what really informs Every Mile lyrically is the road and the pervasive ennui and loneliness that are the constant companions of a band in a van on tour (that "Lonely" is the opening track is no accident). Nolan has captured some eternal American images in his rocking "Wish Me Well." Told from the point of view of a young guy fed up with a menial dishwashing job and living at home, it is in fact an American Kerouac on-the-road metaphor.

I traded the dishes for an '83 wagon
Had my dad take a look under the hood
He said, "Take my old gas can, check the oil
You should be good"

Wish me wide, open roads
Wish me a warm place to rest
Wish me a life of my own
Wish me only happiness
How far to go is hard to tell
There ain't no map, so wish me well

But Say Zuzu's four-piece basic rock ensemble image aside, some of the most melodically pleasing music on the disc is in songs like the piano-driven "Blue To Here." Nolan may not be Barry Manilow, but he has a great pop sense and plays a truly catchy melody behind the wistful pop-ish vocal that celebrates the small, good things in life with a terse elegance.

It's a long way down
It's a long way down, my dear
But it's a long, long way
From blue to here

Murphy is no slouch of songwriter and his "Good Girl" touches many of the emotions that go with the life of a road-weary band trying to keep things together from gig to gig and keep their spirits up. Murphy sings this road anthem with all the woe-is-me angst membership in the No Depression scene requires.

Got a busted beat-up muffler
You can hear it coming when I start it up
Before I head home to rest a while before going out again
I hang my head and hope that she might
Look my way and think I'm alright
But all I want is to find a good girl before going home

It only goes to show how crazy the music business is that a band as good as Say Zuzu is better known in Italy and Germany than in Texas or California. Much of the credit for the group's European popularity goes to the noted German roots label Blue Rose, which handles the European releases and distribution. Lately, I've found myself easily irritated by alt.rock bands seemingly bent on eternally mining the Wilco/Replacements musical vein, and on first hearing Every Mile I was ready to write Say Zuzu off as just another young derivative band-on-the-bandwagon. But they eventually won me over with their down-to-earth, earnest, common folks lyrics and a crisp, unpretentious sound. Lyrics like Nolan's mean streets blue-collar portrait in "Doldrums" have certainly put them on my "to be looked out for" list of bands.

Paully works at one of them You call ­ We haul places
Friday nights he rounds 'em up down by the bars
Where the drunks can't stand up
Let alone drive away their cars
And he gets fifty bucks every time he takes a ride

Eight years old, his mom was dead and gone
Pop worked at the drink tank slingin' booze 'til dawn
He'd sit in a back booth where people carved their names
And watch the people play their stupid games

Say Zuzu. Strange name. Smart band.

* The album is available at www.sayzuzu.com


Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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