Holy Alice in Chains, Batman! From the man who’s helped bring such sonic ecstasy with acts like Shatner, Blood Lightning, and the Rock & Roll Rumble-winning Set Fire among others to your earholes comes Crawl Your Way Back, an EP unlike any other so far in the Jim Healey aural arsenal.
Unlike many a quieter solo release from Healey, Crawl Your Way Back boasts a whole lotta heft from the prolific performer and songwriter with Healey taking on various guitars, bass duties, and vocals with Josh Cronin (Set Fire) handling drums throughout. “Life Is A Circle” isn’t as much abrasive as it’s just a more present force than the decidedly more laid back Nodo which preceded it and the fuzzed out bluesy swagger that proceeds from here complete with some sick falsetto lines from Healey is an early tone setter for the rest of CYWB.
“Alice” is clutch… is that how the kids use that word? Anyway! To put it in some simpler vernacular: It rules, okay? With a steady beat from Cronin and Healey’s croon over some riffs that swing back and forth like a pendulum, this ditty delves into a dynamic somewhere between Dinosaur Jr and the best Grunge had to offer at its’ height. Speaking on that particular genre of yesteryear, “Weakness” hones in on that sound but grasps at some outliers reminding us of bands like rust (Go stream Bar Chord Ritual here now!) and Taproot’s later forays into multi-layered vocal harmonies (On Blue-Sky Research especially) with the way Healey’s vocals are produced (Thanks Ethan Dussault at New Alliance Audio!) along with the general somber nature of the stringed instruments and the sounds they make here.
Crawl Your Way Back is out now and you can get yours instantly by heading here or by clicking on the stream below. For ALL the latest from Jim Healey and associated acts, follow the trail of socials when you head here, here, or here.