Review: Satin Nickel Mines Musical and Romantic Duality on 'Shadow of Doubt'

New York-based Americana group Satin Nickel is a study in duality. Even their band name combines soft material and hard metals. On their debut album, Shadow of Doubt, the band plays up the differences between primary songwriters Morgan Hollingsworth and Samantha Anenson.

Hollingsworth's style is more rock-oriented, along the lines of Drive-By Truckers or American Aquarium. Anenson is the more folk oriented of the two. Together, along with the three other member who make up the quintet, they careen from introspective folk-pop to wailing electric guitar solos, sometimes in the same song. It's a formula for disaster, but one that Satin Nickel has balanced well.

All of the songs on Shadow of Doubt deal with new beginnings; some happy, some sad, some voluntary, some not. The most interesting take on a new beginning, and the album's strongest song, is “Ballad of Yankee Jim.” It tells the true story of “Yankee” Jim Robinson, a thief in San Diego who may or may not have attempted to steal a rowboat (the song sides with Jim) and who was hanged for it while his associate, and the narrator of the song, only got a year. The hanging was especially brutal, with the tall Robinson's toes touching the ground and strangling instead of having his neck snapped. While that might sound like an ending rather than a new beginning, Robinson had other ideas. The reported place of Robinson's hanging was turned into Whaley House, one of California's most haunted. So Yankee Jim's new beginning was as a ghost, one who is reported to still shake chandeliers and rattle furniture to this day.

A more conventional, but equally strong, “new beginning” is “Secondhand Smoke.” It's the song that best makes use of Hollingsworth's more rough-hewn voice and Anenson's jazzy croon. Trading off vocal leads before sharing the chorus with a loose harmony that could be dismissed as bordering on sloppy if it didn't fit the chaotic love of the song, a romance as deadly as the song's title. “Secondhand Smoke” also contains the album's strongest electric guitar solo.

Another strong electric entry is “Just Keep Running.” Except here, instead of a solo, the chugging electric guitar and kick drum dominate, giving the song the feel of a Shovels & Rope song. The lyrics tell of someone who wants to find a new beginning, but discovers no matter how far he runs, his “lover's ghost” is there with him.

Shadow of Doubt is a solid debut for Satin Nickel. It's not perfect in many places, but it shines enough that they're worth following to see where their natural maturation as a group leads.

You can pick up Satin Nickel's debut now at your local indie record store (call to see if they do delivery or curbside pickups!) or on the band's website.