Elk City lost their guitarist/vocalist Peter Langland-Hassan soon after the release of their second record, Hold Tight the Ropes. It was a huge loss, but like any good band
Elk City picked itself up, dusted itself off, and snagged a couple of shiny new bandmembers. Well, less along the lines of shiny and new and more along the lines of seasoned and time-tested, as in ex-
Luna guitarist
Sean Eden and ex-Lovelies bassist Barbara Endes. Things haven't been quite the same in
Elk City since they came along. For instance, vocalist Renee LoBue, who stepped into the forefront once Langland-Hassan was out of the picture, reveals herself to sound a heck of a lot like a cross between
Chrissie Hynde and
Patti Smith. The band has dropped the
Neil Young-ish twang that characterized their first two albums -- they sound tougher, savvier, more glam, not only drawing from
Smith and
the Pretenders but
Kate Bush,
David Bowie, and even
Iggy Pop. And, with the exception of a few missteps, they sound better than ever. LoBue has come into her own on this album -- the cloying indie wispiness that characterized her earlier work (both in
Elk City and
Melting Hopefuls) has been stripped away, revealing pure muscle. She sounds practically warrior-like on the stompy, tart-sweet first track, "Cherries in the Snow," and manages to pull off a practically
Bowie-esque croon on reflective tracks like "Silver Lawyers" and "Nighttime." "Los Cruzados" might be the best track on the album -- LoBue's mournful, liquid vocals are haunting and exultant on the song's refrain of "Hallelujah, hallelujah." LoBue only runs into trouble when she lapses into the saccharine, stilted sing-songiness of the opening to "The Magic Door" -- it sounds like an artifact of the band's previous self, so it sounds somewhat flatfooted standing next to the rest of the tracks. If fans can move past soggy moments like this, not to mention get past the fact that
Elk City no longer sounds like a
Crazy Horse revival band, they'll find a lot to believe in on this release. ~ Margaret Reges