Root - Root Supposed He Was Out of the Question
Independent
By Andrew P Street
OK, let's contextualise this: DC Root, singer and lyricist of Root, is also Humphrey B. Flaubert from TISM. So you should be able to predict exactly what sort of project this country band is.
Suburban Australiana references a-go-go? Check. Punny song titles like ‘Spring Me Out Of Caroline Springs, Caroline'? Gotcha. It's all entertaining, at least on a track-by-track basis, but over an entire album Root's sardonic lyrics really need the barking venom of Ron Hitler-Barrasi to offset them to best effect, not least because one needs some sort of spice after half a dozen undistinguished country vamps with oh-so-clever lyrics.
That being said, I defy anyone (apart, perhaps, from the song's subject) not to get a titter about the opening track and debut single ‘I Wish I Was Tex Perkins', where lines like "He goes on like that endless road / He keeps on getting laid" will make you want to bust out Hot Dogma again.