Album Review: Aubrie Sellers 'New City Blues'

Every now and then an album releases with a sound so fresh that it’s an attention grabber. Such is the case with Aubrie Sellers’ debut record, New City Blues. Produced by Frank Liddell, the project contains fourteen tracks all written or co-written by Sellers, who proves that in addition to her striking pipes, she also has a knack with a pen.

Describing her sound as “garage country," Sellers pretty much hits the nail on the head. In addition to the crunchy guitars and pounding drums there’s an undeniable intense energy alongside attitude and swagger. She's like all three Pistol Annies rolled into one, combining the saucy sweetness of Ashley Monroe, the sass of Angaleena Presley and the all-around badassery of Miranda Lambert.

New City Blues opens with current single, “Light Of Day” which, with its ear grabbing, menacing introduction sets a tone for the entire album. There’s the rollicking blues filled “Sit Here & Cry” whose melody counters the theme of heartbreak so strong that it renders her unable to do anything except “Sit here cryin’ til you come back.” That’s followed by the duo of “Paper Doll” and “Magazines,” both of which are lyrically and sonically gritty. The former, about those females who have nary an ounce of uniqueness about them, has an almost punk vibe while the rockin’ latter is a commentary on periodicals and our relying on them as speakers of the truth, “If they put it on paper it must be true.” 

While there are plenty of rock heavy tracks, they’re successfully balanced by a number of ballads which only reveal more of New City Blues' distinctness. Sellers’ vocals, while light as air, can seamlessly segue between emotions like the bold, brassy, full of attitude “Liar Liar” to the sweet and tender, on songs like the gorgeous shuffling “Losing Ground,” the incredibly charming “Something Special” and the gentle “Like The Rain” which lyrically compares the one she loves to a beautiful storm; where she knows she could wait for better weather, but there’s just something there, such that “No clear blue sky can move me quite like that.”

Introspection and reflection can be found on album standout, “People Talking,” a song with that “hit you in the heart feel” dealing with the loneliness and anxiety of others’ words, yet reminding us in the final line to remember “It’s only people talking, it’s not true.” The same type of reflection is also felt on “Loveless Rolling Stone,” a tale of leaving a love behind and choosing the road as a way of life, but pondering whether you will end up alone in the end. “They say living on the run is a one-way track/They say you can dream in vain but you just might die alone/They say home is where the heart is and if that’s so I must be a loveless rolling stone.”

Other songs on New City Blues include “Dreaming In The Day” which conjures up a heavenly, dreamy Fleetwood Mac-esque feel remembering the passion of the night before, “Just To Be With You” which uses electric guitars and crashing cymbals to tell the desperation of a woman who will do anything (quit her job, steal a car) to be with her man and the stunningly simple and somber, “Humming Song.” The album circles back to the rock feel with the hard driving pace of closing track “Living Is Killing Me” which puts forth the simple fact that life can be hard, but something about that whistle at the end signals that even though one may endure hardships, brighter lights will prevail.

Huge kudos to Sellers, who could have taken a “safer” route chasing trends or going all out traditional, for instead choosing to create her own unique path, be an individual, and make an album that offers something different, pushing music in a new direction that I for one, am eager to take.

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