The guys in Daddy Long Legs are not happy with the state of the world. That’s not exactly a bold statement these days, but the New York City quartet — which includes guitarist Murat Aktürk, singer Brian Hurd, keyboardist Dave Klein and drummer Josh Styles — isn’t shy about proclaiming their impressions of modern living via elemental songs that often draw from the grimier aspects of rock and roll history.
Cue “Feelings” from their fourth and most recent studio album, 2023’s Street Sermon: “There ain’t no use to pretend/This world has come to an end/We’re livin’ a nightmare/And this world is condemned/I’ll see you if this nightmare ever ends.” Hurd’s manic vocal delivery and harmonica squawks are backed by a bluesy ruckus that recalls everything from Exile on Main St.-era Stones to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion minus (most of) the irony. Yet the album’s title track offers a way out, as Hurd sings amid a ramshackle arrangement marked by a persistent shaker, a circular acoustic guitar riff and backing vocals: “I’ve come to the conclusion/There’s only one solution/Work with one another/Not against each other.”
That’s not exactly a revelatory insight, but it’s right in line with Daddy Long Legs’ primal approach to music — say it (and play it) plainly and with feeling. The relatively recent addition of Klein on keys has injected an extra element into Daddy Long Legs’ sonic exorcisms.
“We wrote and recorded a new album (Street Sermon) while we had time off the road in 2020 and 2021, and our producer Oakley Munson played piano and organ on a lot of the tracks,” Hurd said in a 2022 interview with UnderTheRadar, a website based in New Zealand. “We really liked what it added to the sound. A little later when live shows started up again, we wanted to showcase the new material, so we got our good friend Dave the Wave to step in, and he’s been a great addition. We boogie even harder these days thanks to him.”
And boogie they do, gyrating around the stage as they emit the sound of a band yearning for salvation in a world gone mad.
Daddy Long Legs plays Southgate House Revival on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. More info: southgatehouse.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Nov. 12 print edition.
This article appears in Nov. 12-25.