The Red Clay Strays - Made By These Moments

It’s a remarkable feat that in just eight years The Red Clay Strays have built the foundational sound of a band that’s been touring for decades, their tools weaving amongst each other with a timeworn familiarity. On their new album, Made By These Moments, they’ve expanded their output once again into a fuller, more expansive beast that sweeps the gamut of southern rock and soul, blending genres into a sound that’s as recognisable as it is fresh.

In a lesser band, a voice as powerful and distinctive as frontman Brandon Coleman’s would blunt its instruments, whether through his artful howl on a track like the brutishly introspective ‘Disaster,’ or his trilling avian warble on the pensive ‘Wanna Be Loved.’ It’s a testament to the skills of the group that their apparatus rises as worthy competitors for captain. The duelling guitars, in particular, are frantic in their bid to be heard, each succeeding. The discombobulating mash of sound is both pleasing and puzzling. Take the bubbling, manic energy of a song like ‘Mess Around’ by Ray Charles, press it into the scratchy vinyl of an Allman Brothers Band cut, and you’ll understand how The Red Clay Strays create a song like ‘Ramblin’,’ which at times feels like listening to two different tracks in unison, showing how chaos can be controlled to superb effect.

Thematically, the band honour the ‘Made By These Moments’ moniker, reaching into the depths of human experience to produce songs that feel simultaneously universal and personal. It swings wildly between joy and sorrow, which is surely inevitable for a band that has seen only turmoil in its lifetime, where happiness often feels snatched and confused. This is evident on the neat triplet of mournful ska-inflected pandemic tune ‘Drowning,’ the delicately hopeless and bluesy ‘Devil In My Ear,’ which could be the cousin of Chris Stapleton’s ‘Nobody to Blame,’ and the resigned and defiant ‘I’m Still Fine.’ Just as we’ve settled in to a calmer back half of the album, we’re blown out of the water with the knee-slapping sincerity of ‘On My Knees,’ sounding as though it could be pouring out from a revival tent on the hottest Sunday of the year when the heat and the spirit have combined to convert even the firmest of non-believers.

The hysteria of the music is closely linked to the band’s coveted ability to create the sound of a live show with their studio output. Those who have seen them live will know that there’s scarcely a difference between the two. The Red Clay Strays are a band on the cusp of stardom, and Made By These Moments is a superb documentation of why.

9/10

Red Clay Strays 2024 project, Made By These Moments, is available everywhere now via RCA Records.

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