Dex Romweber Duo: Images 13

Dex Romweber Duo
Images 13
(Bloodshot)
3.5 out of 5 stars

The longtime association between Dex Romweber and Southern Culture on the Skids’ Rick Miller is a near perfect musical match made in the sleazier back alleys of the American experience. After all, S.C.O.T.S. are the acknowledged kingpins of the trashed out combination of garage, surf, Tiki loungecore, countrypolitan, rockabilly, bluesy swamp and twang that guitarist Romweber has been slinging out since his mid-‘80s and ‘90s days fronting the influential twosome, the Flat Duo Jets.

Besides better sounding recordings, little has changed in either acts’ worlds throughout the ensuing decades, which shows their dedication to a form they both dominate in their own ways. On the inexplicably titled Images 13 (there are only a dozen tracks), guitarist/songwriter Romweber and drumming sister Sara return to Miller’s Kudzu Ranch studios for another go-round of the slimy, raw rocking that despite traversing a wide swath of sounds, fits perfectly with Romweber’s existing catalog.

The frontman unplugs and goes solo for a melancholy stripped down acoustic cover of Johnny Burnette’s back door love shenanigans “One Sided Love Affair” and the handclap assisted “Beyond the Moonlight.” But for the most part, Romweber keeps the sound down and raunchy with the reverb turned up to 11 and his suggestive baritone vocals as grimy as ever. A cool side road into Brit invasion finds the pair resurrecting the Who’s “So Sad About Us,” expanding this music’s Americana borders. Instrumentals such as the ‘60’s spy themed “Blackout!,” the Ventures on speed of the self-explanatory “Blue Surf” and the walk-on-the-noir-side “Prelude in G Minor” punctuate the set list which, at just 34 minutes begs for more of where the rest came from, especially since this is the duo’s only release in three years. If, like Jack White, you’re already a fan, this is another proud entry into your Romweber library. But if the name is new to you, this is a perfect place to start your appreciation of an artist who remains one of America’s generally unheralded dusky treasures.