David Boone and the Mercenaries | The State of the Union

Published: June 26, 2009

Missoula singer/songwriter David Boone has followed up his 2007 recording, A Tale of Gold, with his most professional effort yet. With the talented Mercenaries in tow, and plush production to boot, Boone rails, rants and wails through 11 new rock tunes that feature waves of guitar, shouts and whispers and cool hooks.

Boone lets his sandpapery, nasal tenor soar and sigh and howl through songs that reveal fallacy, deceit and reckless handling of the heart.

This is likely his most complicated album yet. It’s awash in gallons of lyrics that seem as if they were first written as poems, yet they’re so tightly welded to the melodies that they had to be composed at the same time.

“Heavens Falling” sets the tone. Over a rockin’ rhythm coupled with layers of melody, stanzas of rapid-fire storytelling pour from Boone as he pleads for understanding of this world, taking swipes at religion along the way. This one screams single.

The title track is next, with an “ah-oh-oh-oh” riff à la the Killers, and maybe a bit of Lindsay Buckingham vocal nuance. A syncopated beat and plenty of guitar slinging shimmer on Boone’s duet with Sarah Condon, “What We Call Love” (“he bruised your heart, bruised your mind”).

That’s followed by the ballad, “Backed Against the Wall.” It’s a sigh-heavy poem about missed opportunities and the hurt of love, and features another dynamite chorus.

The tender pace continues in “Never Saw It Coming.” Boone murmurs “we were never better off than when we had nothing,” to pretty guitar lines. He’s pleading on the ominous and bluesy “Set Your Love on Fire”; and a nifty, clickety-clack tempo weaves through “Deal with the Devil,” with its tight instrumental riffs and cool percussion.

Boone sings a witty lyric on “Ode to the Princess” (“Just find your frog and kiss”), and ends the album with the melancholy “We Could Be Flying.”

The artist has developed excellent control over his voice, and it shows here. Throw in the superb skills of the Mercenaries (featuring producer Max Allyn, Checkers and Brandon Barker, and James Wasem), and I’m wondering when THEY get to appear on David Letterman’s show.

The CD was recorded and produced in 2008 by Max Allyn at Base Camp Recording in Bozeman; visit the artist at www.davidboone.net.

– Mariss McTucker