Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, ‘Dereconstructed’

Lee Bains’s sophomore record makes evident that he is a man with a lot on his mind. In particular, the past and present state of the South and Southernness (including his own) is a preoccupation throughout, from the oppositional stance articulated by title song “Dereconstructed” (“We gave them songs about taking your own damn stand/In spite of those who’d define and control you”) to a scathing riff on the Alabama state motto, “We Dare Defend Our Rights,” to a warts-and-all valentine to his hometown of Birmingham, “The Weeds Downtown.” It also makes evident that Bains likes to rock. He and the Glory Fires wrap his commentaries, ruminations, and invective in what he calls “real Alabama rock ’n’ roll,” a raging burnpile of garage and Southern rock, dirty, supercharged blues and soul, Stonesy groove, Crazy Horse howl, and punk slam. With these songs, Bains surely wants to make you think; he surely will make you shake. (Out Tuesday) STUART MUNRO

ESSENTIAL “Dereconstructed”

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires perform at
Great Scott on July 16.