{Originally published in UR Chicago Magazine, July 2008}
Wild Sweet Orange
We Have Cause to Be Uneasy
Canvasback Music, July 15
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Wild Sweet Orange make some beautifully melancholic and wistfully nostalgic pop rock. Unfortunately, only half the Alabama quartet’s debut, We Have Cause to Be Uneasy, is made up of songs fitting that description. The remainder primarily comprises rather whiny power-pop tracks sounding similar (due mostly to Preston Lovinggood’s vocals) to Coldplay knock-offs. Ultimately, Uneasy actually has a rather easy, cinematic temperament befitting Grey’s Anatomy or a Zach Braff project. Opener “Ten Dead Dogs” has been the claim to fame, and with good reason. Additional songs “Sour Milk” and “An Atlas to Follow” establish just how talented Lovinggood and Co. are at making bittersweet and intimate heart-wrenchers. But where Okkervil River and Death Cab for Cutie succeed in creating emotive and cerebral dream-pop with elegance, half of Uneasy comes off as emo for frat boys.
-Jason Horine
