Seratones would be just another pretty-good-not-great rock band without frontwoman AJ Haynes' powerful voice leading the charge. Their first LP, Get Gone, brandishes playful guitar hooks that swing in at just the right moments, but Haynes is the band’s best asset, lighting these otherwise-conventional songs on fire.
In their mix of soulful grease and punky grit, Seratones feel like a natural, rollicking complement to The Alabama Shakes, but it’s not quite fair to call them a ripoff. Where the Shakes go for the groovy soul of Muscle Shoals, Seratones instead veer toward swinging Southern garage rock. Get Gone’s guitars crackle with the heat of the band’s native Louisiana. In his earliest days as a Squirrel Nut Zipper, Get Gone producer Jimbo Mathus specialized in fast-and-loose tunes that sounded like they might fly apart at any moment, an energy the Seratones often capture well (though some extra occasional grit wouldn’t hurt, either).
Haynes attributes her vocal prowess to learning to sing in a church choir from a young age, and she shows off her quivering high notes right away on opener “Choking On Your Spit,” balancing it neatly with a sneer at the song's recipient. When she belts that she’s seen the light “Don’t Need It,” you believe it. She slinks a little lower on the more blues-inclined title track before cutting in with sharp, cathartic “Ooh-ooh!”s for the song’s chorus.
The band is at is best when it’s playing fast and tight, as with the bright, soaring “Sun.” They lose momentum on the drifting “Tide” early in the record before picking up with the punchier “Chandelier,” and closing track “Keep Me” is pretty, but it feels like a sleepy, anticlimactic close to a record that otherwise vibrates with energy. “Kingdom Come” begins with an impatient patter before dipping into chugging guitar riffs, combining for a track that oozes anticipation.
Haynes' charisma is palpable through almost every song—even the giggles that bubble up on “Kingdom Come” inject the record with a genuine joy. She ends that song with the line, “I’ll be your best, believe me,” delivering the last two words like a slow punch to the gut. She does so much work on Get Gone that you wind up hoping she follows through on her promise.
