Bruces – The War Of The Bruces
Alex McManus knows how to play second fiddle…and guitar, and banjo, and just about anything else he might be called on to play. As part of the sprawling country orchestra that is Lambchop — not to mention his participation in electro/organic alchemists Empire State and stints backing Vic Chesnutt and Simon Joyner — McManus has become somewhat of a consummate sideman. With the Bruces, McManus steps out from the shadows to take first chair.
The War Of The Bruces is the band’s second album; the first, Hialeah Pink, was released in very limited quantities in 1994 (though it has since been reissued). This long-delayed sophomore album shows McManus really coming into his own as a songwriter, collecting eleven somber but engaging tales of decay and regret.
“I’m a bum bum bum,” he sings in a slightly wobbly Midwestern drawl on the opener “Do Si Do”, but without a hint of sentimentality, something he probably picked up from fellow Nebraskan Simon Joyner. With “Invisible Ceiling”, McManus shows his talent as an arranger, injecting atypical sounds and subtle atmospherics into the typical singer-songwriter formula. The closer, a wry version of “I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground”, places him firmly in the line of tradition.