The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten

A little break from the travel portion of this blog to say if you haven't heard of the Gaslight Anthem, please check them out. Their first major label release comes out today and thanks to NPR streaming a preview of the album I can already tell you it's a good one. I first heard of them a few years ago because they were being called a Springsteen influenced punk band and have shared the stage with Bruce a few times and they have quickly risen to be one of my favorite bands of all time.

It's not just me, USA Today:

This is rock 'n' roll as we always hoped it could be: brutally honest, naked emotions and primal, cathartic singalong sounds that pour directly from one band's soul into yours. No posing. No sympathy solicited. On the quartet's fourth album, the Springsteen influence still echoes faintly — band and Boss share a Jersey background, a producer (Brendan O'Brien) and a penchant for arena-filling anthems — but here they stand on their own, barroom-tested and with plenty to say.

NPR

Each of The Gaslight Anthem's last three albums — 2008's The '59 Sound, 2010's American Slang and Handwritten, out July 24 — features one perfect song and a bunch more terrific ones. Taken as a whole, "Howl" is exactly like The Gaslight Anthem itself: You may have heard every ingredient before, but in this particular concoction, they all sound amazing — all blood and guts, life and death, youth and danger, wistful memories and thwarted lust. If there were a psychotropic drug that made users feel like James Dean, Handwritten would render it redundant

So check out the album, the clip above is the first single from the album. Not the perfect song that NPR is talking about but really catchy. Even better if they are playing in your area go see them! I've seen them once and hoping that we might be able to check them out when hit this side of the pond.