Gray / Smith Heels In The Aisle

The sophomore effort from Gray/Smith refines their petroleum-based, hard-lullaby sound with a decidedly dusty precision.To call this pair's brand of country-rock détournement "cosmic" would be too breezy: L. Gray and Rob Smith prefer to stareinto sunken depths, channeling their recondite affections for lay-by mauve zones and red-dirt guitar wanderings.Formed in the outer-edges of Kings and Richmond counties circa 2020, Gray/Smith is something of an East-Coastinvolution. L. Gray (guitar and vocals) and Rob Smith (drums, guitar and vocals) are both trusty veterans of "band's bands"like Pigeons (Soft Abuse), No-Neck Blues Band (Revenant, Locust), Rhyton (Thrill Jockey), and The Suntanama (Drag City),freewheeling groups known for mining from polyglot sources: rough-hewn folk and the spiritual avant-garde, bargain-binhard rock and and collector's-choice psychedelia alike. On their first, self-released LP Gray/Smith, serendipitously recorded atGary's Electric at the top of 2021, the pair trained their assured chops onto the great American song-form, honing a murkybut tight approach that variously cribs "urban cowboy" and finger-picked primitivism. A string of cryptic appearances soonfollowed, including a short-lived residency at a now-shuttered vodka dive; a micro-tour with Coloradan songstress JosephineFoster; and a series of backyard and barroom gigs sharing stages with compatriots like Stella Kola, Blues Ambush, SamaraLubelski, and Wednesday Knudsen.Heels in the Aisle is the slipshod, burnt-out, mid-'70s unter-prog comedown to their debut's backwoods, bushy-tailed,early-'70s, country-rock meanderings_expect more unrestrained riffs, artful studio wizardry, and worn-down introspection.Joining the ranks of bloodshot-eyed, blues-rock medleys à la Canned Heat's "Parthenogenesis" and Grand Funk's "Into TheSun," "The SDSPS" is the nearly side-length opening cut, an expanded song-cycle condensing and riffing on the themes oftheir debut. "Help Me" ventriloquizes Pomona College outlaw Kris...