Review: Shinyribs Gets Serious on ‘Transit Damage’

Shinyribs
Transit Damage
(Hardcharger Records/Blue Elan)
3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Since his 2010 debut, Austin’s Kevin Russell, in his post-Gourds alter-ego guise as Shinyribs, has been the go-to destination for those who want to get their roots party on.

His sprawling (sometimes 10-piece) band’s swirling, occasionally frantic, but always compelling combination of horn-enhanced New Orleans funk, blues, swamp rock, and even country combined with high-energy performances that the adjective “spirited” doesn’t convey forcefully enough, have become legendary.

Capturing the ensemble’s contagious, often humorous, and very visual (check out his flashy suits and the background singer’s coordinated moves) vibe in the studio has been more difficult. Since Russell is a DIY kinda guy, getting eight self-released albums out to the public, let alone generating radio play, has been challenging. Regardless, word of mouth and high-profile slots on festivals and shows like Austin City Limits have kept that expansive, dynamic band on the road, not an easy job.

Russell returns to the studio and tries something different for album number nine. He hired an established producer (Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin) and aligned himself with a better-distributed label (Blue Elan), in an effort for Transit Damage to hopefully elevate him, and his veteran road band, a few notches into crossover visibility.

He also got serious.

Instead of the frivolous songs that dotted previous releases such as “Party While You Still Can,” “I Gotta Get Drunk,” and the sing-along “I Don’t Give a Shit,” Russell leans into more substantial fare. Songs centered around appreciating the good things in life (lead single, “All the Best Things”), or about a woman leaving her troubled past …running from that dark cloud / She’s breaking her chains, or, in the title track warning a friend that Instant enlightenment can look like genius—it’s always cheap and plentiful over a somber pedal steel led ballad dominate the album. And on one of two covers, Grant Hart’s tragic and touching “Pink Turns to Blue” about a woman’s death from an overdose, things turn pretty grim despite its catchy chorus. The earnest cover painting also captures a solemn side of Russell.   

Not a lot of laughs here.

The funky good times remain though for “If Love is Earned” where horns are featured on a slice of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes-styled R&B. When he shifts into falsetto for the love song “Simply Belong to You” singing Love is helium, not the balloon or has some fun on “Alphabeta,” the mood lightens considerably.

Some of the new material will likely get pumped up for the always exuberant live experience. Additionally, Russell’s songwriting, arrangements, and singing still glisten, regardless of the subject matter, which makes this modification in direction a logical, if perhaps unexpected, path forward at this stage of his career.    

Photo by Wyatt McSpadden / Mad Ink PR