If their eponymous debut was about making it out of college (more or less) with a well thumbed copy of "L'Etranger" and and a Masters in late 1970s post-punk, and if The Monitor is a concept album about forming a rock and roll band, then, if Titus Andronicus' leader Patrick Stickles is to be believed, the October release Local Business is about none of the above. All concepts gone for a straight ahead rock and roll band, who would love to simplify, if they weren't so damn smart.I'll buy the unconcept concept, but not on the first single, the simply spectacular "In A Big City" (a nod to Big Country, who deserve one) because I am not even guessing when I claim this picks up exactly where The Monitor left off, with Stickles leaving New Jersey for Big City nyc, where he refuses to compromise while watching some of his dreams (crowd surfing on the video) come true.
The song is a rough hewed, Irish jiggy (informed by the Pogues, but writing this kinda song it is hard to get out of their way) singalong to the common man and common decency, plus, if we can do without the dirty ass line, when the second line in the song is "I was a disturbed dangerous drifter…" there isn't much to be forgiven. Incidentally, the sort of line that is heaven to sing along with.
This is as good as Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting back Together Again" -a song it resembles in its breathless perfectness. This is a s good as Titus Andronicus ever needs to get. Sometimes they are better than this but no, they don't have to be at all.
Grade: A