Premiere: 3 Pairs of Boots kick up dust on new album, ‘Gone South’ -

A prominent fixture of Greek folklore, the once-mighty and iron-fisted, but cruelly-deceiving, King Sisyphus fully believed he was untouchable. But in his attempts to bewitch the equally-powerful Zeus, Sisyphus was condemned to chains in the Underworld. However, he soon enacted a plan of great deception there, as well, and upon being caught, he was then met with an even more savagely-necessary punishment. He was forced to roll a giant boulder up a craggy, towering hill that not only tried all his might but his psychological health, too. Once he would reach the tippy-top, the journey would reset all over again at the bottom; such a constant loop served as an eternal reminder that damnation shall fit the crime. The mythological story also operates as a metaphor for the human existence: we are all fated to unbearable stretches of time, and so, we must collect our senses and find some joy inside devastating ruin.

Mashing up blues, rock and Americana music, daring duo 3 Pairs of Boots ⏤ of lead singer Laura Arias and musician Andrew Stern ⏤ plant their thick-soled heels in the sun-caked California dirt. They jostle matters of weary, blood-shot humanity, not unlike that of Sisyphus, on their emotionally-filtered new album, Gone South. Across 12 songs, all self-written and produced, the husband-wife dust-slingers tether their hearts together over western tunes that zig from relentless misery and mundanity of the 9-to-5 to the blissful caress of love and seizing the present. The titular cut makes the most explicit reference to Sisyphus, as Arias pops open, “What’s the name of that Greek King / Y’know that guy who pushed the boulder up the hill all day / Only to get up the next morning / And have to do it all over again.”

The hyper-sensitive charge is instantly penetrating, as the story closes in on her personal expedition. “Yea, that sounds like my life / Cuz every day I’m right back where I started / Can’t seem to catch a break / Can’t seem to get ahead / No matter how hard I try,” she sings, plainspoken and heart-torn. Her weathered and smokey alto braids around the melodies with a spellbound tautness, often snapping the lyrics right in half. On “It Ain’t Easy,” she further laments the financial strains of living a middle America lifestyle. “I work all day, all week, all year / All my life, spend the money I earn / Without a care in the world,” she confides, the toe-tapping glow puncturing the tension. While the pressure of doing what’s right and true weighs heavily on her shoulder blades, her heart rips and busts at the seams, draining her weariness of any kind of stranglehold over her existence. “Dollar Store” further underscores such a statement piece, with a blue-collar rattler that frames love over money with brazen lashes. “We don’t need money to have a good time / Shooting pool at the bar, cruisin’ in the truck / Suits us fine / He’s the richest man in town / Without a dollar to his name,” her voice barrels against locomotive-strength guitar.

“Hey, I’m on My Way” chugs ferociously across the steel-crusted tracks, too, and unpacks their vast musical palette, switching from Nick Drake to Tom Petty before swerving into dreamy ’70s folk-rock and even Beatles territory. “Anything for You” is an exemplary vocal showcase, torchy and unruly, where percussion-based “Wash Away the Blues” permits Arias to whisper her lines with visceral, static coloring. But it’s “One More Ride” that best frames the band’s storytelling prowess; a devastatingly poetic performance from Arias is matched with a remarkable arrangement that both cuts the skin and soothes past injuries. “So many people to consider / When there’s a fork in the road / Which way do you turn / Do you choose unhappiness or loneliness / Do you choose a broken family / Or do you just live a lie,” she sings, burning the flame all the way down until there’s nothing but the pungent odor of misery and a shattered heart.

In total, Gone South is drenched in the holy spirit of classic country. It’s 12 songs of astonishing songcraft: relentless yet astonishingly fragile, bold yet familiar, light yet massive. 3 Pairs of Boots initially began as an endeavor to write for TV and film, and upon landing an opportunity with a Canadian show, Arias and Stern quickly realized the potential of their work. “The songs started coming fast, and, before we knew it, we had written 30+ songs. It was clear we not only had an album but a pathway to future albums and touring,” writes Stern to B-Sides & Badlands over email. Flood gates swinging wide open, the pair began the meticulous process wherever their muse took them. Every song written would soon emerge with a rough-cut demo.

“That gives us a good skeleton record for a final version, if it makes the cut, and gives us enough insight to determine if it is good enough to include on an album,” he says. The next nine months bore out countless demo recordings, and it was soon evident that a body of work could be culled from their efforts. “We picked the top 12 songs and started into the next phase: final recordings,” shares Stern, whose stylistic contributions are very much indebted to quite a vibrant upbringing in San Francisco. “For the final production, the music tracks from the demos were tracked again, using real amps miked up (instead of just going direct in), recording real drums (instead of using loops), spending a lot more time tracking, recording the instruments the correct way, making sure all the puzzle pieces fit together and reworking the arrangements so they flowed seamlessly.”

Guitars quake and thrash on the rebellious fire-starter “Lousy Week,” as Arias howls at the low-hanging moon. “The lavender’s courting the bumble bees / The humming birds playing hide & seek / But come tomorrow, I’ll be back on the job,” she caterwauls. “Starting the grind all over again / So put our feet up, take a break / Help me forget my lousy week.” The loosely bedeviling grit in her vocal cords serve her well, top to bottom; even on “Always Loved Cowboys,” her tone is as a sticky, brightly-amber elixir. Gone South throbs with every possible outcome of living and loving, and Arias and Stern cement their work as outstanding and vital to the Americana music scene.

Gone South official drops everywhere this Friday (July 12).

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