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4 highly enjoyable songs from this New Orleans collective; Critters is their 5th overall release and a highly polished collection of songs.  Big, lush, dramatic and thunderous wouldn’t be off the mark and the use of French makes it a nice and clever touch.

“Laissez les Lazy” is catchy – a synth riff drives the track with big, echo-ey vocals that use call-and-response; it’s upbeat and joyful (really, all four songs are but this one in particular) and has a danceability about it.  “Isle Dans la Mer” is an almost-classically arranged piece with its strings; it could be part of a theatrical production (there’s a lot going on in this track!); two vocals overlap and then heavy rhythm on the chorus which veers into French; “La Cheminee” rolls along at a near zydeco pace and is light and fun – subsequently, “Mon Espirit” is the most restrained of the 4 songs.  Heavy on rhythm and opening in a stripped-down fashion with just vocals.

An interesting sound; an interesting approach.  This E.P. is serving as the appetizer to their forthcoming album Creatures (!), so I’m looking forward to the next chapter.

RECOMMENDED

Critters is available now

https://sweetcrudeband.bandcamp.com/

https://youtu.be/_TZ0YW4Iu6w

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About the Author

Rob Ross

Rob Ross has been, for good, bad or indifferent, involved in the music industry for over 30 years - first as guitarist/singer/songwriter with The Punch Line, then as freelance journalist, producer and manager to working for independent and major record labels. He resides in Staten Island, New York with his wife and cats; he works out a lot, reads voraciously, loves Big Star and his orange Gretsch. Doesn't that make him neat?

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