Reigning Sound: Love And Curses LP
— Price: 159 SEK

"As a songwriter, Cartwright doesn’t need long to get his point across and the band favors stoney solidity over embellishment; only two tracks on the album break the three-minute mark. "Call Me" is strutting, sex-charged soul of the sort Cartwright seems able to toss off without batting a ‘lid. "Only Want You More" finds bassist David Wayne Gay and drummer Lance Wille pounding the beat into the pavement while Cartwright yowls and cries. The record’s sole cover, "Stick Up For Me," originally recorded by the Glass Sun, is the rawest cut here, with Cartwright shearing away his vocal chords over peals of organ and dual channels of riptide guitar. Adding to the album’s depth are a number of mellower tracks, songs more in tune with the material on the Home For Orphans EP or the band’s underrated debut Break Up, Break Down. "Something To Hold Onto" is one of Cartwright’s stronger Byrdsian ballads. "Polly Anne" deals in the romance of the down-and-out, dictating the story of a girl set out to paint the world in a swath of broken hearts. On "The Bells," Cartwright, smoke-voiced and sincere, is found pleading, “pierce this night / with your honeyed voice / let me know I still have a choice.”

In an era where kitsch too frequently trumps class, it’s a proud moment hearing a band driven by none more than their love of the material. Love and Curses is a rock ‘n’ roll record with neither pretense nor manicure, a clean glimpse into rock’s exposed essence." -dusted magazine

Reigning Sound on wikipedia

myspace

(in the red)