Rattle Their Chains

For Rattle Their Chains, the fourth album by Texas songwriter Brian Wright, a strong backup band adds the camaraderie and muscle that was arguably missing from the excellent House on Fire, where Wright accompanied himself on a laundry list of instruments. Thanks to this added firepower, a song like “We Don’t Live There” bursts to life with neat lyrical observations about his old Hollywood neighborhood, where he saw his share of crafty characters who feel more dangerous in retrospect. A double-tracked tune like “Hear What I Want” has a looseness that relieves the carefully sculpted quieter moments. Songs like “Red Rooster Social Club” and “Weird Winter” need their relief for the stories to stand out and not get lost in a constant flurry of literary moments. Besides, as a tune like “Face of the Earth” shows, Wright’s a solid country singer when playing that part, too.