Call Upon The Author

I first came across Alberta Cross a few years back. I was at a Scott Matthews show and I’d been asked to help out the tour support (a guy called Josh Pyke) by singing up people for his mailing list and giving out flyers. I’d roped a few friends into this and we filled up our sheets from the crowd before scurrying into the venue and nabbing some front row seats. I was looking forward to hearing Josh as he sounded great from the proomo’s I’d been sent. Well, on walked a band who looked like the bastard offspring of The Strokes and the Allman Brothers… somehow I’d been promoting a guy who wasn’t playing that gig, instead we got Alberta Cross, and thankfully, they weren’t bad! I picked up their EP, listened to it a few times and kind of forgot about them until this CD landed on my doorstep. When I popped this disc into the CD player their sound came rushing back, largely because a few of the EP’s tracks are repeated here. So, what do we get? It’s blustering bluesy rock that sits uneasily between Kings Of Leon and My Morning Jacket without ever threatening to hit those bands lofty heights. From the opening ‘Three Woman Blues’ through half remembered tunes like ‘Old Man Chicago’ and onward, it’s clear the band are trying to hark back to the Blues as so many have before, but this all feels half hearted and even uninterested. Sure, this is a fine enough album to listen to on your commute into work, but would you ever reach for it our of choice? No, you’re listening because you’re too lazy to fish your iPod out of your pocket and press skip! It’s not that Alberta Cross are bad, just that we’ve heard it all before, and done so much better.