The Furious Seasons
Look West
(Stonegarden Records)

L.A.’s trio The Furious Seasons’ fifth release, Look West, gets deep into acoustic, guitar-led, fine songwriting, playing, and singing. Beginning with the sad pluck of “Long Shot,” David Steinhart’s voice pulls you right in, as do Paul Nelson’s backing vocals in the chorus. It’s a great opener. “What’s Coming Next” presents Jeff Steinhart’s simple upright bass playing, equally subtle acoustic lead noodling from Paul (an expert player, truly), and David’s fine vocals opening up the images and sense of regret. Jeff starts us off into the mid-tempo sway of one of the more upbeat movers here (pure Everly Brothers) on “Simple and Clean.” Once again Paul gets in as much fine backing vocal moments as precise leading. And as “Summer Flame” opens with Nelson’s soft leading and Steinhart’s almost-talking vocals from the outset, you feel you’re in for something special (and it pretty much is). This song captures what The Furious Seasons does best with sound and vocals, mining something we have all experienced, a full chorus of two-part harmony vocals and the acoustics complementing each other all the way through with the bass sliding cool under it all. “So Glad It’s Mine” ends the set of twelve tunes. I like the light keys entering here, again the layering acoustics and David’s very honest delivery. You’re not going to do better than The Furious Seasons’ Look West when it comes to acoustic folk-pop.