Metro Times
Possibly the pinnacle for exquisite, western-wrung, alt-country-rock, this talented quartet’s so stately and masterful with composition, harmony and sense for tone that you’ll likely be compelled to straighten your bolo-ties as you drink in the tasteful twangs.
Press for Western Sides
Metro Times
“It’s About the Music Man”
by Chris Parker
A musician’s life is mostly more affliction than avocation. Perhaps there should be a 12-step program. Like the priesthood or reality TV, musicians sacrifice much of their lives for a paltry fiscal payoff, if any at all. It definitely requires a peculiar mentality. That’s the best explanation for what drives American Mars, the smart Motor City-area band that, so far, has existed quietly on the fringes…read the full article here.
Harp
review
For the past decade, American Mars has denied its Detroit heritage in favor of atmospheric heartland roots rock that romps like Ryan Adams and ruminates like Joe Henry. The quartet (featuring Blanche pedal steelist David Feeny) was ready to capitalize upon the buzz generated by its first two albums when bassist Garth Girard’s bout with colon cancer derailed the band. American Mars finally returns with Western Sides, the album it began in 2004 and a triumph on almost every level. Vocalist/guitarist Thomas Trimble takes lyrical and sonic cues from Bob Dylan (“Anna Marie”) and Tom Petty (“Marionette”), but is equally comfortable in applying a messy smear of Paul Westerberg to the proceedings, particularly on the Stonesy country crunch of “Democracity.” Flecks of the Jayhawks’ sparse rootsy shimmer (“Sunray”) and Adams’ urban cowboy swagger (“Who Here?”) sparkle throughout, but it all adds up to American Mars’ uniquely scuffed beauty.- Brian Baker
Detroit Metro Times
review
A lot can happen in five years. Children go from being born to being dropped off for their first day of school. Countries are invaded. Even presidents can come and go. A lot can happen. It’s been that long since American Mars released its last album, No City Fun — and that’s long enough for the elegant, trend-defying Detroit roots rockers to have survived some hefty changes. –Read more here.
FreightTrainBoogie.com
(five stars)
This is a dynamic and studied work from Detroit-based American Mars with first rate songs from the band and exceptional production from multi-instrumentalist David Feeny. Cinematic soundscapes such as “Long Walk Home” and “Better Angels” feature lush pedal steel and mix it up with an alt rock guitar style that reminds one of the Cure. Sort of alt.country shoe-gazers Cowboy Junkies meet alt.brit shoe-gazers my Bloody Valentine, with intriguing effect. “Democracity” rocks out in a David Bowie/Lou Reed fashion while “Marionette” is a classic folk rockish cautionary tale. The jacket with this CD offers sincere thanks for finding this “endangered species of recorded music” but besides the musician’s gratitude the reward is in the listening.—Michael Meehan
Real Detroit Weekly
(four stars)
One of last year’s albums that’s really grown on me since its release is Bruce Springsteen’s Magic, quite the stellar comeback tour de force from the Jersey blue collar vet. The third release from Dearborn cowboys American Mars lassos the open range ramble of Magic with the vocals of Thomas Trimble, who crosses between Tom Petty and HOWL-era Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Feeny’s stellar pedal steel and Trimble’s weathered blues on “Long Walk Home,” hit the heart like a thunderbolt, because this is a band that has seen their own struggles, and while The Boss was born to run, American Mars stampedes through Detroit’s rich folk pastures. –Thomas Matich
Detroit Free Press
The up-and-down journey of experimental indie roots-folk band American Mars could fill an episode of VH1’s “Behind the Music.” Numerous lineup changes, family and career challenges, and a frightening cancer diagnosis almost made the band nothing more than a fond Detroit memory. But over the last couple of years, under the leadership of singer-songwriter Thomas Trimble, the members rallied and began new sessions of writing and recording. Now the Americana rockers are revitalized and set to drop a new full-length CD, Western Sides (Gangplank Records)–Read more here.
Press for No City Fun
All Music Guide
“American Mars, during the years between recordings, has become a leaner, more confusing, and profound rock & roll band by aiming for the lyrical places where only ghosts dare to whisper and the musical spaces where past, present, and future bleed into one another as the timelessness of one endless twilight sky.”-Thom Jurek
Detroit Metro Times
“American Mars’ No City Fun is a pedal steel-laden, song-driven disc rich with gentle sadness, melodic acumen and knotty wordplay whose reference points fall somewhere between Yo La Tengo, Calexico and the Flying Burrito Brothers. In a just world, American Mars would be huge.” -Brian Smith
Detroit Free Press
“A sense of haunting floats throughout No City Fun, the second album for the revered Detroit ensemble. It’s a sort of unearthly heartland rock…just in time to call it one of the best albums of 2001.” -Brian McCollum
Miles of Music
“Hailing from Detroit, yet having not a trace of the Motor City rock element, the ethereal sound of American Mars is an impassioned and moody brand of indie-Americana. One might compare this to the mid-period work of Joe Henry. American Mars even find ultra-inspired moments where they kick it up a few notches for a moving and dynamic effect.”
Billboard
“Living on the hard edge of Americana, drawing well-crafted emotional vignettes in chiaroscuro, looking at familiar things through the eyes of a stranger.” -Karen Koski
Real Detroit Weekly
“A classic Americana feeling is enveloped in these pop trappings both in a true songwriting sense as well as a trough-beating on sampled textures and moody vibes. An indescribable magic.” -Shannon McCarthy
Real Detroit Weekly
“Critical darlings of the Midwest and known for their cathartic live shows, American Mars is not to be missed.”
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