The husband-wife duo in bands is really overdone at this point. For the last few years it seems these kinds of bands were popping up everywhere. Black The Buffalo take a different approach when making their album Blood On The Plains though.

It’s easy to write the “I Love You” song when writing from this dynamic but Black The Buffalo approaches from the opposite perspective. The songs explore the real problems of relationships without wasting time on sugarcoating them. Songs like “A Superstitious Mind’s A Prison” are biting with the lyrics “I go where I’m going to and I do what I please” from the female viewpoint and later the male point-of-view claims “Your love’s an acquired joy” in “A House Safe For Lions.” The upbeat opener “As The Crow Flies” proves to be an addictive, soaring chorus while the venom of “Rattlesnakes & Vultures” make it clear that this record refuses to pull any punches. When the final song “Blood on the Plains” (an endlessly appropriate nod to Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks) comes, things shift gears. The song tunes in with an eerie and ghostly feel with the message that things are definitely not in control while the careful acoustic strums beg to differ.

All this heartbreak is backed with dancing Spanish guitar style picking and minimal backing instruments shifting the focus right where it should be, on the lyrics. The deeply introspective album sounds as personal as anything you will hear and the honesty of it makes the songs hit close to heart, sometimes a little too close for comfort.

Key Tracks: “Blood on the Plains” “A Superstitious Mind’s A Prison” “A House Safe For Lions”