“Quick Fixes & Power Trips is a solid alt-country record that sounds at times like the Drive-By Truckers or Son Volt, with some nice guitar licks.” –– Robert Loerzel, The Underground Bee; www.undergroundbee.com. The “thank you” list on the inside flap of The Lonesomes’ second album, Quick Fixes & Power Trips, reads like a who’s who of the Portland indie music scene, and for good reason. The band has combined the influences and advice from some of the area’s most notable rock icons, and churned it into songs, and a sound, that is entirely their own. With Phil Favorite’s literate, character-driven set pieces with outlaws, inside jobs, cherished families and weary dissent –– and the addition of guitarist Mark Dybvig (of Thrillbilly fame), the quartet has drilled its way into more of a granite sound this time around. The album is a bigger, bolder blast of indie rock, with a mix of hard-edged blasters and smoother agates –– songs that are slow, soft and moving. The 12 songs on QFPT display the prowess of the band’s collaborative songwriting, finely etching their rock, pop and Americana personas. They’re timeless, precise and easy to relate to: The soldier in Saint Nick returns from war, becomes a cop but soon discovers, “When it comes to helping folks he was way overqualified." The Ballad of Frank and Ruth is an airy, powerful and passionate history lesson featuring a little girl and a white-haired man hiding out "way up in the woods in Forest Park." One of the starkest songs on the album is the implied title track, Heaven Help Us, opening with the too-close-to-home statement, "Quick fixes and power trips/Oil flows through battleships." The song echos the disappointed sigh of an American public that knows its been duped and is left wanting for leadership. Brian Berg, best known for his frontman work with Portland stalwarts 44 Long, is back in the producer’s chair following up his work on The Lonesomes well-received debut, Circling The Sun. Having collaborated in the studio recently with indie rock legends such as John Doe, Robert Pollard and Stephen Malkmus, Berg lends a master’s touch, helping shape each tune to expand the band’s sonic palette. The Lonesomes have been invited to contribute a track from QFPT to Atlanta-based Shut Eye Record’s The United State of Americana, Vol. 6, set for Summer 2007 release and a complement to the band’s 2005 contribution to Vol. 2.