Rare is the musical classicist who can inhabit a genre without coming off as a revivalist. On their fifth full-length album, The Dash, Milwaukee’s R. Mutt achieves that sort of classicism when it comes to classic rock. And without the hoary sanctimony that informs, for instance, Bruce Springsteen’s world-wearier work, Mutt makes the philosophical outworking of a rocker grappling with middle age sound downright fun.
The set's titular song incorporates the maxim advising folks to make the most of "the dash" between the years of one birth and death. Even when Mutt plumbs the darker reserves of the heart, their heartily choogling heavy blues-informed rocking sounds like a flashback to mid-'70s AOR radio with a winsome freshness. If Mutt's aging gracefully, they also sound like he's spending his own Dash with an inspiring vigor.
R. Mutt celebrates the release of The Dash by opening for dada Wednesday, March 1 at Shank Hall, 1434 N Farwell Ave.
