Gord’s “Under Them Neon Lights” spends its hour caught between the intimacy of country storytelling and the amplified charge of hard rock. Drawing on a small-town upbringing and influences as wide-ranging as Kris Kristofferson, Alan Jackson, Iron Maiden, and Brian Setzer, he brings those traditions into the same room without sounding torn between them. The songs carry the plainspoken emotion of country, but there is plenty of muscle in how they move.
Writing all his own material, Gord pulls from personal experience to address love, loneliness, hope, self-doubt, personal revelations, and mortality. Those subjects might seem familiar, yet his willingness to shift between tenderness and full-throttle rock gives the album its particular character. He is clearly attached to his roots, though he has little interest in letting the boundaries of any one genre dictate his approach.
The title track makes that clear straight away. Fast, buoyant guitars and percussion push against Gord’s cheerful vocal delivery, producing a danceable rush that feels equally suited to a lively barroom floor and a mosh pit. There is an appealing sense of abandon to it, as though the song is inviting everyone within earshot to get up and move.
“What the Song Needs” takes a gentler route, unfolding through a soft, tender buildup that gives the feeling time to settle. “Someone’s Got It Worse” goes further into emotional territory, with Gord’s impassioned voice making its weight difficult to ignore. Both songs pull the listener closer rather than trying to overwhelm them, and the contrast with the louder material makes their restraint all the more effective.
Then there is “Longshot,” which arrives with conviction and holds onto it. Its pulsing momentum lends the track a cinematic excitement, while the overall mood feels uplifting and empowering. That forward drive gives it the kind of energy that can linger after the final notes have faded.
Across the album, blazing rock riffs sit beside organic, classic country textures, and Gord moves confidently between their demands. His phrasing carries the emotional directness of a traditional country songwriter, yet he can summon the lung-bursting intensity of a hard rock or heavy metal frontman. On “Someone’s Got It Worse” and “What the Song Needs,” he sounds conversational, measured and grounded. On “Obsessed” and “Under Them Neon Lights,” that delivery turns urgent, pointed and anthemic.
The result is an album with the after-dark atmosphere of a country-metal bar. There is honky-tonk realism here, along with more private reckonings, all unfolding beneath the imagined glow of neon signs and through the haze of a crowded room. What stays with you is the way Gord makes room for vulnerability even when the music seems ready to erupt into a stadium-sized chorus.
“Under Them Neon Lights” is streaming now on all major streaming platforms.
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