Nothing if not a model of consistency, Buffalo Tom has been making the same decent-to-great music since 1992’s Let Me Come Over. Actually the Massachusetts trio’s third album, Let Me Come Over feels more like a debut, as it zeroed in brilliantly on the group’s strengths, namely the earnest, imagery-laden, acoustic-gone-electric songwriting of guitarist Bill Janovitz and bassist Chris Colbourn and the propulsive punk undercurrents supplied by drummer Tom Maginnis. Judging by the band’s latest, Skins (Scrawny), it’s a formula that still has legs. Skins is the group’s eighth album and second since reuniting after a 10-year (sort-of) break, and its world-weary lilt and been-there/done-that themes make it the perfect grown-up companion piece to Let Me Come Over’s reluctant coming-of-age angst. It may be the best thing the band has done since that LP. Buffalo Tom will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with Janovitz and Colbourn.
Colbourn: I love the Hamburg and Liverpool Beatles stories, but I think the real DNA of the band’s identity should be credited to John’s Aunt Mimi. John’s biological mom, Julia Lennon, got her own songs and tragic legend, but in the end it was probably Aunt Mimi’s love, encouragement, worry and patience all those years with John growing up that developed this boy into the great artist he became. I thought Kristin Scott Thomas was a perfect choice to play Mimi in Nowhere Boy.
Video after the jump.
