Fuzztone Reviews: Pierce Edens and the Dirty Work- Long Days Above Ground

Pierce Edens has one of those immediately recognizable voices: big, phlegmy, soulful, and with a big ol’ case of the blues. Knee-jerk listeners will immediately think of Tom Waits after a casual listen but to call him just a knock-off of Waits’ scummy lounge lizard period is a disservice to the elephant testicle-sized talent that Edens possesses.

Long Days Above Ground, Edens’ latest album with his band The Dirty Work is a damn good document showing that Edens is more than his throat’s most obvious influence. Instead, the album shows the singer as indebted to honky tonk heroes and hipster champions alike. He’s equal parts Kris Kristofferson and Will Oldham with a dose of Mickey Rourke thrown in for color.

Spread out over eleven tracks, Long Days Above Ground showcases Edens as many characters- the loveable loser, the lonely lush and the warmed over lothario- but the most compelling character of all is Edens himself. The songwriting is strong and bleeds from style to style and genre to genre without missing a beat, all while leaning on the tight playing of The Dirty Work. There’s not a bad track on the album, and Edens never ceases to be an affable and engaging singer- he’s talented as hell and somehow doesn’t come across as a smug douche while displaying it.

Pierce Edens and the Dirty Work on the web