Review: Runaway June crest the neo-traditional wave with self-titled debut EP

With WOMAN Nashville, Song Suffragettes, Highway Queens and countless other warriors doing God’s work, the revolution is well underway. The movement of equality and transparency in the music business is lined with rallying cries from women who have had just about enough with second-class treatment, and it’s an uprising which has reached the ranks of Cam (check her Twitter feed on any given day) and Carrie Underwood, a superstar who recently went on record with Nash Country Daily‘s Elaina Doré Smith stating, “These strong women who are super talented that totally deserve it are not getting the same opportunities.” Straight, white men, on the other hand, have no problem collecting faceless No. 1 hits, high-profile endorsements and enviable live performance slots. It’s a conversation that seems to light up keyboards more frequently and passionately tahan ever these days, and rightfully so. It’s not going away just because you want it to.

Runaway June‘s should-be-smashing “Buy My Own Drinks” elevates that theme even further. The boozy, bar-top romper both provokes and enlightens ⎯⎯ the trio of women uncover an exhilarating kind of independence in the wake of heartbreak. “At the end of the night when they cut on all the lights, I can call my own cab / I can drop my own change in the jukebox / I can dance all by myself,” Jennifer Wayne, Naomi Cooke and Hannah Mulholland sing. Through the playful dance of neon light, falling across the bar scene and a cast of the usual suspects, they reclaim their self-worth and an identity completely unencumbered by a man and his sensitive ego. Written by the three-piece, alongside Nashville heavy-weights Hillary Lindsey and Josh Kear, “Drinks” sloshes with a neo-traditional flavor, an approach that has characterized the entire scope of their work so far. It’s the stylistic benchmark for the trio’s self-titled debut EP, out this Friday (Sept. 7), and while the band’s wondrous debut single “Lipstick” isn’t included on the project, it’s presence still makes the rounds.

Pulling in the reigns, “I Am Too” (written by busbee, Corey Crowder and Liz Rose) exposes the frayed nerve endings pulsating below the billowing cigarette smoke and the hazy chatter of other bar-goers. “I got too many memories but not enough,” they weep into their fizzy drinks, dosing up on the lonesome and soured taste of regret. “Are you sitting somewhere tonight trying not to think about us / I am, too far to walk / Too drunk to dare to drive / And away, too gone / For another drop / Are you blaming me for everything I did and didn’t do / I am, too,” they sing, situating their addictive wordplay (once again) as among their prime selling points. With producer Dann Huff (Underwood, Hunter Hayes, Brett Young), the band of players craft a record that smartly straddles the past and present, the classic and the modern, the free-spirited and the evocative.

Of course, their harmony is as tightly-bound as that of Little Big Town and Dixie Chicks, allowing Cooke, Mulholland and Wayne to reenergize the sonic palette in ways that’s both slyly adventurous and comfortable. “Got Me Where I Want You” (James Slater, Kat Higgins, Justin Morgan) leans further into that shuddering, emotionally-charged place, and their vocals split and reunite for their most electric vocal performance. “You only want me when you got me where you want me,” rings out the chorus, so somber it sends a chill down the spine.

To then take on Dwight Yoakam’s 1993 honky-tonk classic “Fast as You,” the third single from his This Time record, is a monstrous and daring endeavor. Runaway June certainly do adhere to the strict late-80s, early-90s template with a delightful relish, fusing a strong, resilient and womanly frolic, but their energy is even more grandiose and infectious. From the distorted ripple of the intro to the slinky bounce on the guitar groove to the piano’s unstoppable quake, the trio take just enough liberty to inject the melody with a wild static energy. “Maybe I’ll break hearts and be as fast as you,” snarls and bites the hook. It’s a satisfying primer for “Wild West,” a top-to-bottom cinematic masterpiece, crafted with painstaking honesty and vocals that can only rip your heart from your chest.

Their debut on Wheelhouse Records, Runaway June makes an expected cannon-ball-sized splash (and then some) across all five songs. It’s a rarity an act impresses so fully with their first rodeo, but Wayne, Cooke and Mulholland have already proven they defy the norm. They’re here to conquer. The band will make you laugh, cry, roar, pound your chest, down the shots and tear the patriarchy apart one brick at a time. We’re here for it.

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