At its best when anything but celebratory

Picking a wildly specific topic for an EP is admirable, and John McDonough has certainly picked a unique focus, though it will be less unique once the George Clooney-directed adaptation of the same story comes out. We’ll Answer The Call follows Joe Rantz and his inspirational journey to a gold medal in rowing during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. McDonough’s passionate vocals are a good fit for sports narratives and his intricate guitar work creates a dark atmosphere for Rantz’s tragic upbringing. However, the songwriting devolves into a lot of dull pablum typical of sports narratives, as it expects the patriotic angle to carry a lot more emotional weight than it actually can.

McDonough is not the prettiest singer, with an overbearing huskiness that creeps in even at his most peaceful, but he’s got a lot of power and an album like this does not call for subtlety. “We’ll Answer The Call” is the most cheesy as he sings with a gusto worthy of “St Elmo’s Fire” or any number of ’80s mullet rockers, but the backing vocals are well-placed as the tune rises in intensity at just the right moments.

While his vocals are not subtle, McDonough’s guitar work absolutely is and he knows how to set a musical scene. “Shooting Star” opens the EP with impressive finger-picking intertwining with itself to create an elegiac atmosphere. While “Among the Stars” and “Point Me East” are not as technically impressive, they are just as intimate and engrossing in their starkness. McDonough’s composition work is also impressive, with instrumentation like the glistening pianos on “Shooting Star” and the light patter of percussion on “Love You Just for You” that slips in at the right moments to amplify a sensation.

Despite being an album ostensibly about victory, We’ll Answer the Call is most engrossing when it’s not celebrating. “Shooting Star” runs through Rantz’s miserable upbringing, as his stepmom hated him and he had to live in a half-finished cabin throughout his teen years. The bridge is a bold proclamation of leaving the town behind and never looking back in pursuit of his dreams. It’s a perfect match for the ominous guitars which are earned after the grim imagery contained within the two verses.

“Point Me East” is meant to be from the perspective of the ship that carried Rantz’s team to Berlin, though it could easily be read as a metaphor for Rantz as he comes to terms with his mortality.  “Point Me East, for the rest of my days” encapsulates the grim finality of the ship and the man wanting to relive their greatest moments as the end nears, and it’s a great closer to the album.

Patriotism is a dicey proposition to sell an album on, and sadly the tracks celebrating the actual event feel underwritten and dependent on patriotism without realizing that this idea alone is not enough to make the story interesting. The Boys in the Boat, a nonfiction narrative account of Rantz’s success that serves as the basis for Clooney’s movie, addresses how the Nazis covered up the horrible treatment of Jews “so as to win worldwide applause for the Games, duping the United States Olympic Committee among others.” It’s a detail like this that is missing from “Among the Stars” or “We’ll Answer The Call,” though “Love You Just For You” sticks out like a sore thumb with no obvious attachment to the album’s narrative.

McDonough continues to prove himself as a capable guitarist with a knack for compositions wielding texture and sway, and there are moments of lyrical power sprinkled throughout. However, there’s not an element that takes this familiar narrative over the top. Anyone sick of the sports narrative wrapped in the red, white and blue will find little to change their mind here.