Hurry Up and Wait

Soul Asylum are not the band they used to be, and thats not a judgement, thats just a fact. In the year 2020, lead vocalist and songwriter Dave Pirner is the only member left from their original lineup, and 36 years on from their debut album (and 28 after they broke through with Grave Dancers Union), its foolish to expect them to sound like they did in the era when flannel shirts and beat-up jeans were briefly fashionable rather than slobby. 2020s Hurry Up and Wait isnt the work of a bunch of scrappy, beer-fueled upstarts the way we once loved them, and Pirner seems perfectly comfortable with not trying to be the guy who sang Someone to Shove. Thats not to say hes taken all of his rock moves off the table, as Got It Pretty Good and Hopped Up Feelin demonstrate, but Hurry Up and Wait spends most of its time exploring Pirners more pensive and introspective side, a side thats been a growing part of Soul Asylums formula from Let Your Dim Light Shine onward. So dont think of Hurry Up and Wait as a Soul Asylum album and instead approach it as a Dave Pirner solo effort and it stacks up nicely next to his underappreciated 2002 album Faces & Names. Hes not as much of a howler at the age of 56, but his vocals are still committed and the melodic sense and wordplay in his songs remains strong, and his band -- Ryan Smith on guitar, Winston Roye on bass, and Michael Bland on drums -- can kick it up when the song asks for it and deliver more measured support on the quieter moments. And if including two songs complaining about telephones feels like Pirner is showing his age, the honesty of Social Butterfly and the careful storytelling of Dead Letter find him handling maturity better than the average rock dude in deep middle age. Hurry Up and Wait is the work of a musician who isnt foolish enough to ignore the passage of time, and Soul Asylum are adapting to their new circumstances better here than on 2016s Change of Fortune. ~ Mark Deming