In recent years, we’ve been introduced to a lot of great, new acts based around women with a moody guitar sound and great big voices (see Nicole Atkins, Anna Calvi, and Jesse Sykes). To that list we can now add Arrica Rose, who, with her band The …’s, is poised for a breakout with her third full-length album, Let Alone Sea.
“Nothing Nada Nothing” is the album’s standout track and one of the best songs of the summer. It’s here that the band’s best traits gel perfectly: The …’s horn-infused, country-rock backing, warm, lively production, and Rose’s praiseworthy vocal work, which wonderfully leaps from sultry to sweet on a dime.
“Sail Away” is a wind-swept lullaby that shows Rose owing more to Ennio Morricone than to any recent pop singer. “We Made Out Alright” is driven along by Rose’s airy vocals and a guitar riff that’s half surf rock, half funeral dirge. “Summer’s Gonna Burn Me (So Are You)” is a jazzier number highlighted by a muted trumpet and violin.
The album closes with the Louis Armstrong and Buggles mashup “Video Killed the Radio Star (Wonderful World)”. While there hasn’t been a cover of “What a Wonderful World” that doesn’t mine the song for emotional resonance, it’s the other part of the mashup that’s most intriguing. The Buggles’ novelty pop hit has never sounded as mournful for a bygone era as it does here.
Highly recommended, Let Alone Sea is worth checking out at the very least for “Nothing Nada Nothing”, one of the best indie rock tracks released this year. It helps that the rest of the album is pretty great, as well.
