ALBUMs

Featuring over twenty musicians, The Love Language songwriter and front man Stuart McLamb has now delivered ‘Ruby Red’ to an expectant audience following, the release of 2009¹s The Love Language and ‘Libraries in 2010.

The record is a grower, by the third listen it really shines through as a widescreen indie pop/rock dream. By the seventh or eighth listen, it is the Road Trip album of choice of the summer of 2013!

You can’t easily attribute the sound of the record to other bands (although in most cases that can be the only way to describe music in word form), but this LP really does have a big and joyous sound, fostering thoughts of The Arcade Fire, The Stills and alike.

Opener ‘Calm Down’ is an instant toe tapper followed in the same vein by ‘Kids’ ‘Hi Life’ takes a swerve with some sprinkled 80’s ‘New Romantics’ stardust’. The ten songs are nicely paced ‘First Shot’ has a harder edge and ‘For Izzy’, is a pop gem in Shins / Grizzly Bear territory.

The twenty musicians on the album, some of who apparently straddled several time zones, as the Love Language¹s lone mastermind and his engineer BJ Burton put this beautiful record together in Black Mountain, North Carolina and later in Minneapolis.

Love Language is a community art project made by “responsible citizens of a loosely packed scene who know that McLamb will match whatever they contribute”.

So let’s hope the all keep contributing.

Pete

10/11

1. Calm Down

2. Kids

3. Hi Life

4. First Shot

5. Golden Age

6. For Izzy

7. Faithbreaker

8. On Our Heels

9. Knots

10. Pilot Light

Band Website