Dave Hause is clear on his goals for this album, stating that he wanted to make a simplistic, stripped-back, full-octane rock `n' roll album with ...And The Mermaid, promising a release shorn of production tricks and what he refers to as a "murderers row" of players, instead focusing on plugging and playing. So, does he succeed in that endeavor, backed by the aforementioned Mermaid band? Ironically, the album kicks off with some majestic trumpets and horns, perhaps suggesting the purported focus on a simplistic approach is somewhat overblown, but the song behind it, opener "A Knife In The Mud," recalls the majesty of some of Springsteen's work, and the lyrics are uplifting and powerful enough to put a smile on the listener's face immediately. A check in the box, then. That theme continues for the majority of the album's runtime. You can easily imagine these songs being sung back at Hause with gusto in some boiling-hot venue shaking with the power of his band's music, not least because each of these songs seems almost to have been designed to be sung along with, not unlike those of frequent tour-mates The Gaslight Anthem or their mutual influence, The Replacements.