Reigning Sound – Love & Curses

Reigning Sound are one of those little-known yet prolific bands that are somehow off the radars of many music fans. Formed in 2001 by Greg Cartwright, previously of Compulsive Gamblers and The Oblivians, from North Carolina via Tennessee, they have somehow managed to accrue seven albums prior to this release, toured with The Hives, collaborated with Jay Reatard and Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las, all without making much of an impact on the collective consciousness. This is a shame, as there is clearly a lot of great stuff to be mined from their output, if one takes this album as representative.The overall (reigning?) sound is a harmonious and quite basic, straightforwardly-structured garage rock. Very many of the tracks have a very early-1960s feel to them, both musically and also in the heartbroken-teenager-in-love subject matter. This comes across mostly as endearing, rather than annoyingly naïve, with tricks like singing about the heart as if it has a character of its own (“My heart won’t let you go (”¦) It still thinks that you are mine” on ‘Break It For Me’), or just straightforward lovelorn romanticism, as in “All these feelings that I have for you / They won’t ever die” (‘Is It True’) or “I can’t go to bed without thinking of you” (‘Only Want You More’).Bitterness and anger occasionally creep in, either in the lyrical content ”“ with ‘Don’t Bring It Down’’s “screams of pain”, and the “broken teeth” in ‘Debris’ ”“ or an increased rawness in Cartwright’s generally gruff-yet-mellifluous vocal. And it is a lovely vocal, with which the judicious deployment of Hammond organ combines to create an overall sound that is just very very pleasant on the ear. The best tracks here: the aforementioned opener ‘Break It For Me’; the really gorgeous, simultaneously sad-yet-uplifting ‘I Hear Bells’; and the unassumingly heartbroken ‘Love Won’t Leave You A Song’ feel like classics, or half-remembered favourites from childhood that have always, somehow, been present in your musical subconscious.There are a couple of moments worthy of mention when the band take a detour from their standard themes. ‘Polly Anne’ is the story of a slightly lost soul which reminded me of the protagonist of Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ ”“ all burning bridges, pocket knives, holes in her heart and “Still Daddy’s girl / Though she’s living on the street”. On ‘Stick Up For Me’, they offer their take on power and politics ”“ topics which lend themselves rather less successfully to Cartwright’s slightly simplistic lyrical approach: “The big guys do what they want to / They’re making laws to control you”, they sing, not really bringing anything very new or revelatory to the table.To be honest, though, novelty and revelations aren’t what this band are about. Nor should they be. Where they excel is in crafting a set of songs that manage to be warm, endearing, youthful and empathetic, yet in an uncomplicated and undemanding way. There will be many albums this year that will astound and challenge you more than this one, but perhaps not so many that will be as immediately and enduringly listenable.Reigning Sound on Myspace (fan site)