In “Shoot The Lights Out,” Steakhouse conveys the tale of a tryst told over bass and drums that are broodingly sticky, with booze-fueled longing and adoring over one another and the money earned until things gradually fall apart for the time being.
As vocalist Mark Lee puts it,
The man pays for the room, leaves his chips for her, writes her a note saying shoot the lights out when you go. Let’s leave it all in this room and never come back… but they probably do.
Steakhouse operates more through the eyes of observation than via personal narratives, much like anthropological musicians. Each song on “Amer Rouge” was given an extra boost of reality by the inclusion of lyrical satire based on ordinary events.
We are all more than capable of recognizing both the humor and the sorrow in it, therefore it is equally simple to notice both. This record is a little harsher and more direct than their last one, yet it still manages to make these facts easier to chew through a combination of post-punk, krautrock, and Americana.
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