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"&lt;p&gt;Brian Fallon of New Jersey punk band the Gaslight Anthem grew up in Springsteen Country &amp;#x2014; one of his boyhood homes was four blocks from E Street. The 30-year-old singer (and former carpenter) is at once totally earnest and supercharming &amp;#x2014; the type of guy who&amp;apos;d help you work on your car and then tell you his life story over a six-pack.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;wm:embed type=\"related\"&gt;&lt;/wm:embed&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gaslight&amp;apos;s first two records were soulful punk albums that brought recovering emo kids and middle-aged dads into the fold. &lt;em&gt;American Slang&lt;/em&gt; arrives with serious advance buzz: The choruses are more sculpted, but the band&amp;apos;s tough-as-leather rush is as hard as ever, and Fallon howls so hard, he sounds like he&amp;apos;s aiming to get a section of the Jersey Turnpike named after him.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;Fallon&amp;apos;s characters are the kind who often populate working-class anthems: &amp;quot;Boxer&amp;quot; is about a creative type who gets beaten up in the ring and in his head, and &amp;quot;The Queen of Lower Chelsea&amp;quot; is populated by desperate hustlers and rich girls losing themselves in the big city. &lt;em&gt;American Slang&lt;/em&gt; can feel forced, as if Fallon is searching for meaning just beyond his fingertips. But when he attaches his howl to a first-class tune, he&amp;apos;s unstoppable: &amp;quot;The Diamond Church Street Choir&amp;quot; is a bouncy number about the power of music with a touch of Billy Joel cheese. Like Fallon&amp;apos;s best tunes, it treads the line between sublime and a little silly &amp;#x2014; and hits you right in the gut.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/american-slang-20100615>