“Love is an Unfamiliar Name”
from the album Cuts Across the Land
2005
Watch the video for “Love is an Unfamiliar Name”
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If they wanted to, the Duke Spirit could probably hook up a few synthesizers, apply some hairspray, and become to Blondie what the Killers are to Duran Duran. But hey, that’d be too easy; instead, Cuts Across the Land is an album brimming with the piss and vinegar expected from a band toiling — until recently — fruitlessly in the British music scene since 2002. Of course, that sort of elbow grease is required when you’re aiming to usurp the femme-blues throne currently occupied by PJ Harvey and newbies the Kills and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Duke Spirit singer Leila Moss possess the scowl of Karen O, with a haunting, reserved quality that, at its darkest, is reminiscent of Kim Gordon. “Darling You’re Mean” at first lulls listeners with a pacific guitar pattern and breathy vocals before launching into a menacing, dissonant chorus. “Oooh no, yeah it’s comin’ back/ And I say oooh, Jesus Christ, yeah it’s drivin’ me mad” wails Moss with enough unnerving frankness to frighten even the most petulant, chauvinist male blues singer.
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The Duke Spirit |
Instrumentally, Cuts Across the Land loses some steam from the band’s cataclysmic yet cogent live performance. Still, that doesn’t prevent singles “Love is an Unfamiliar Name” and “Cuts Across the Land” from staking their claim in 2005’s indie honor roll. The former rides an ascending guitar riff until Moss’s heartbreak boils over into a flurry of piqued “Oh-oh-oh’s.” The title track taps the Jesus and Mary Chain mentality of repeating a basic chord progression until it sounds revolutionary — and a clamoring, Sonic Youth-inspired breakdown two-thirds through serves as a dead-on extension of Moss’s scoffing persona.
Unfortunately, the album’s murky mix reveals a few songwriting bugs, particularly on slower-paced tracks. Despite the blemishes, Cuts Across the Land is a surprisingly galvanized and consistent offering from a band that has hardly registered a blip on most British, let alone American, radar screens — an inverse Coldplay of sorts. Score one for the underdog. ~ Adam Moerder, Pitchfork