Pagan Hellcats - Unexpected (2015)

Tracklist

01. Start Something
02. Unexpected
03. You Again
04. All About You
05. She Said You, But She Meant Me
06. November
07. Turtles and Byrds
08. Convince Me
09. Northwestern
10. Highways and Sky
11. Magoo
12. Just a Habit
13. Don't Make It So

“Wild Place, the Pagan Hellcats' debut LP, straddles the line between reflective, easygoing roots and supple rock sinew, not unlike Neil Young. At times, the Hellcats are content to let the country- folk twang drift like a summer breeze, abetted by Dave Rutter's gruff baritone and Diane Rodelli's soothing alto croon. During the ballad "My Side of Town," for instance, the Hellcats ride forlorn peals of slide guitar and a gentle, woody percussive thwack as Rutter rhapsodizes about a reassuring place where "nothing ever changes, so long as we all let it lay." And then there's rock, or tuneful tangles of distortion, like album highlight "You're Gonna Miss Me," which offers dismissive jabs buttressed by crunchy guitar. "Get yourself a brand new body in Hollywood," Rutter urges. "Make yourself a hundred billion dollars with your self-help book." These songs leap out at you …like old friends—so honest, affable and npretentious—you want to invite them back. The subtle skill of the playing only becomes apparent with additional listens, yet it rises above the well-stocked roots rock field without the benefit, or perhaps because, of its lack of bluster.”

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