Lion's Roar, The

Swedish duo, sisters, with a flawless band, who do Americana/Roots as good or better than anyone claiming USA citizenship. Lovely stuff, well produced, solid crystalline vocals, songwriting. Fans of The Naysayer, Emmylou Harris, all things twangy, female singer-songwriter’ish. Heartfelt mature lyrics never disappoint. If you don’t believe, just skip to track 2: Epic, a born classic, something Willie could’ve written for Patsy, that Emmylou might cover with a wink. Great stuff, with enough variation to slip in with Belle and Sebastian too.

(note: a thief forced the lateness of this april released CD. I say better late than never, our charts are about good music, not timeliness, if we cant have both).

1) (5:07) Title track: ¾ swaying waltz and dark in feel, lovely strumming, crystalline vocals first strike, shock and awe
2) (4:18) upbeat in a gentle way, lovely love song that tugs heart strings using references to the legendary couples of country/roots, their soaring love
3) (4:13) lovely slower ballady, pretty
4) (3:12) poppy, sugary, cuteness betrays the dark lyrics, Belle and Sebastian with a quickly fashioned noose
5) (4:24) mid paced, dark yet hopeful lyrics involving failing relationships
6) (5:44) starts minimal, picks up with brushed drums, guitars, soaring vocs
7) (4:13) nice train-chugging brushed drums appear again, establishing their “sound” a bit, lovely, nice drum embellishments, deep crash cymbal
8) (4:50) slow, sparse, dramatic, builds slowly then after 3:30 fiddle appears and the beat changes, more upbeat epic
9) (3:07) autoharp w/ vocs, just heartfelt loveliness
10) (3:39) a male guest vocal appears late, trips up the routine, upbeat, accordion lends a slight Cajun feel, trumpet: Mexico, fiddle: Kentucky, together: greatness