{"id":392842,"date":"2026-04-22T22:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392842\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:58:41","slug":"national-photo-committee-red-hot-photo-committee-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392842\/","title":{"rendered":"National Photo Committee: Red Hot Photo Committee Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a long, slow wait for National Photo Committee<\/a> to drop their debut album. What began seven years ago as a freewheeling alt-country outlet for Max Bottner, formerly of Indiana egg-punks Liquids<\/a> and the anarchist hardcore band Side Action<\/a>, eventually expanded to a full band. A grainy two-song upload<\/a> in 2019 was followed, two years later, by the Chicago group\u2019s first EP, Songs About Sticks and Rocks<\/a>, and steady gigs opening for YHWH Nailgun<\/a>, Hotline TNT<\/a>, and Sharp Pins<\/a>. Finally, this past New Year\u2019s Eve, their full-length debut surfaced as an unfussy YouTube post\u2014only to get pulled<\/a> one week later as Bottner sought label distribution.<\/p>\n

Now released by Ever\/Never Records, Red Hot Photo Committee is expansive and polished\u2014a testament to the prolonged run that produced it. It\u2019s the sound of a band delighting in its own reverberations, armed with the hearty instrumentation of country rock, a notebook stuffed with amusing stories, and the spirit of ragtag friendship. Its rich musical choices immediately grab you: Henry Moskal\u2019s gorgeous pedal steel twirling around \u201cFoam the Field,\u201d that howling tenor saxophone in \u201cAdelaide,\u201d the lopsided drumming on \u201cIt\u2019s Hard\u201d by Leroy Winter and the soft cymbals on \u201cThe Bishop\u201d by Jason Shapiro, who makes good on his anointment as the city\u2019s \u201cbest emerging antifolk artist<\/a>.\u201d The 12-minute \u201cGizzard\u201d could make believers out of jam agnostics as the shimmering groove, laid down by bassist Will Carr, extends into an inviting, borderline romantic progression. As Bottner puts it earlier on the record: \u201cI believe I\u2019m well intentioned\/and I intend to take it slow.\u201d Over its eight songs, the album makes a strong argument for National Photo Committee joining the ranks of Wilco<\/a>, Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band<\/a>, and fellow best-in-class artists putting a Midwestern spin on sunburnt Americana.<\/p>\n

No score yet, be the first to add.<\/p>\n

National Photo Committee couldn\u2019t and don\u2019t try to sever their punk roots along the way. That lineage comes through in their ungovernable guitar noodling, inspired by underground icons NRBQ<\/a> and Bottle Rockets<\/a>, and a boisterous energy befitting of drunken basement shows. It\u2019s that scratch in Bottner\u2019s voice when, three minutes into \u201cBefore the Feeling\u2019s Gone,\u201d he screams, \u201cAnd then one becomes the other\u201d as his bandmates come thundering behind him. It\u2019s in the offhand references to smoking cigarettes picked off the sidewalk, aging like sharp cheddar cheese, and ironically questioning God after hearing the \u201990s soft-pop hit \u201cOne of Us.\u201d It\u2019s in the annoying cell phone ringing during \u201cIf I Wait\u201d and the band\u2019s decision to leave it in the mix.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Bottner\u2019s singing voice; from the deepest corner of his lungs comes a commanding bellow with a low, rattling timbre, like a cross between Bill Callahan<\/a> and Jason Molina<\/a>. His voice is so deep that it bestows Bottner with several extra decades\u2019 worth of wisdom, allowing him to masquerade as an elder authority. \u201cIf I Wait\u201d is a love story of long-distance pining and old-fashioned devotion, and Bottner\u2019s baritone relays its details\u2014handwritten letters, counting the days until reuniting\u2014with the magnetism of a black-and-white romance on Turner Classic Movies. On other tracks, he modulates his delivery to beef up tales of loneliness and desperation. National Photo Committee know the best stories around a cowboy\u2019s campfire come down to who\u2019s telling them, and Bottner is both a powerful singer and a towering narrator.<\/p>\n