The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday

The biggest problem with finding yourselves labelled with the ostensibly complimentary tag of ‘Best Bar Band In The World’ is that everyone assumes this to be the limit of your abilities. Which would be a foolish assumption to make in the case of this Brooklyn five-piece. Separation Sunday is a work of true genius, every bit as poetic as it is primal. Like a drunk at the parties it so beautifully evokes, it approaches with a disarming, aggressive stagger, but then a slurred aside melts into an absorbing couplet and you realise you’ve been had: these guys aren’t a bar band at all – they just dropped in for a beer. (Barry Glynn)