Happy Release Day

Sharp review of the new Marah album at No Depression, as in the writer doesn't lazily drop the words "Springsteen" or "Hornby."

Emerging through difficult times is an achievement in itself. Coming out the other end having produced a valid work of art is a feat. Converting the tribulations of the past into a singular work of art such as Life Is A Problem is a triumph. As an autobiography of artists attempting to find their footing in the face of adversity, it is the most honest, open and human collection of songs Marah has yet produced. It may deny the listener the fist-pumping satisfaction of the group’s earlier epics like “The Catfisherman” or “Freedom Park,” but it trades those pleasures for something deeper, more challenging and ultimately highly rewarding. To borrow the language of modern technology,Life Is A Problem is a not a “lean-back” record; it’s an experience best appreciated in “lean-forward” mode....Marah fans may find some common ground between Life Is A Problem and the band’s ramshackle 1998 debut, Let’s Cut The Crap And Hook Up Later On Tonight, which was similarly recorded in situ – in the latter case not a farmhouse but above a South Philadelphia auto shop.