Sockthief - Stocking Up

Sockthief

Stocking Up 
self-released; 2015

3.6 out of 5

By Megan Gazzo

Stocking Up by Sockthief is a hard-edged album brimming with grit and rust. It is rockabilly and powerful. There is a feeling like the earth is being pulled from underneath your feet when you listen to it. The song “Monsters” speaks, “Sometimes I feel like I am on top of the world, other times I feel like the world is on top of me.” This song brings that full feeling to the foreground. It’s as if I am just floating in outer space because the song has literally lifted me from earth.  

The vocalist has a powerful singing voice that demands presence. Sometimes, he even likes to scream a bit in case you didn’t hear him. With song titles like “Scurvy Circus,” “Yikes” and “Bulleit Holes,” you didn’t think you were gonna get a bin full of roses now did ya? This project is just like a rose actually, the thorns being the punk edge and the rose being the soft velvety burlesque sound. The competency and composition of the band is coiled tightly. One can really tell the ability of the musicians throughout the album as they weave threads of rockabilly, circus, and surf rock fibers into its fabric. 

On the song “ Burning Bridges” you can feel the magic of the music because it is so layered with brass and chorus. It is as if you are at a live circus performance.

This song in particular reminds me of one you would hear on Kill Bill or another Quentin Tarantino Film. Feels like a soundtrack for outlaws. It is unique and edgy. From the sounds of it, the band is filled with classically trained musicians that time and again feel frustrated by being overly composed, so they break out into a mass of chaotic punk energy with screaming and a full blowout. 

The song “ Bulleit Hole” is accompanied by an eerily played piano. You feel like you are in a burlesque parlor and the whiskey is flying or perhaps you are walking down a carnival hallway checking the spectacles. I really appreciate the audio filter that they use to make it sound more old timey. 

This album is literally from another time period. Just like a great book, it has the ability to transport its reader, or in this case its listener, to another place and time. It really is beautiful how emotions well up of carnivals, gambling, burlesque and that velveteen drenched and unruly, yet superbly refined, world can be felt when you listen to this music. Highly recommended. There is no lacking in any arena with these musicians. 

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