You Am I - Convicts - Music Review

You Am I
Convicts
Yep Roc

While they’re a mystery stateside, You Am I are already rock legends in their homeland Australia and abroad. Convicts is the band’s seventh release and finds them searching for footing after a few years of label battles and a few too many public meltdowns by lead singer Tim Rogers. Out to prove they still have it, You Am I fire off Thank God I’ve Hit Rock Bottom with a squall of feedback and the line “I’ve got dime bags lined up like trophy wives.” The band keeps the throttle maxed across the album’s brief 36 minutes with Roger’s punchy verses on Nervous Kid or the chiming guitars and organ on Gunslingers. Yet, among all the hooks and verve, the band also exorcises four years worth of bitterness through slow-burners such as the patently ironic The Sweet Life. Convicts was recorded in 16 days and it bears this mark by being hardly perfect or consistent. Despite its flaws, or perhaps because of them, You Am I’s latest has plenty of thuggish charm though to make it memorable.