Justified

The blinding image that illuminates the front cover tells you immediately: Gregg Burns is out to make a statement. His new release, “In Broad Daylight,” is a super-tight, 6-song collection that boldly delivers on that promise. Appropriately, the album opens with Burns’s distinctive voice standing front and center, unadorned and unaccompanied, as if to fire a warning salvo: HERE I AM. Heavy, chopped-up guitars peal in to drive “Aluminum,” the soaring vocal and concert-size choruses deftly tempered with a clever balance of acoustic, orchestral, and electronic influences. “Pretty Young Thing” follows, an unabashed and thoroughly unapologetic tip of the hat to the sexy swagger of the 70’s, and a host of that era’s seminal rock bands. The recipe for success here is equal parts Robin Trower, Grand Funk, Edgar Winter, and Thin Lizzy, with a splash or three of Pat Travers, classic ZZ Top, and the Dixie Dregs all added in for good measure and simmered to a rollicking boil. Burns opens up the throttle further on “I See,” hitting full stride lyrically as he poses the question, “Did I save myself from me?”, then defiantly responds with snarling guitar. The eerie, moody “Justified” is a tour de force, a bluesy mix of interweaving guitars and keyboards which set the table for his soulful vocal; it’s one of this album’s highlights. “Dandelion” is the perfect closer here, with a freight-train drum beat and a ferocious guitar hook to keep pace with the top-down chorus. And for all this, on an album full of strong and diverse material, “Anybody” might be the little gem that shines brightest. At 2:49, it’s the shortest of the set, but when the stripped-down-yet-still-slick acoustic guitars and impossibly tasty layers of percussion eventually give way to a powerhouse chorus, one is left with the exhilarating feeling of having handed the keys over to truly enjoy the ride. “In Broad Daylight” is a well-built, well-paced EP, and a rousing reaffirmation of intense guitar-driven rock, further amplified by drummer/percussionist Eric Hurwit’s standout performances. It only suffers, if at all, from ending just a little too soon, when one’s only recourse is to reach out and hit “REPEAT.” And that may be the ‘statement’ Burns intended all along.

- A. Simone