++ALBUM++ review by Sam Crawford

THE SUGARS - The Curse Of the Sugars

Released on Bad Sneakers

Sam Crawford is the essence of the diplomatic critic as he delicately tells us why the new record from The Sugars is a little bit pants - despite it's diverse take on White Stripes style blues...

When the White Stripes combined blues and rock with a DIY approach to their music, they created some high calibre material, largely because of the strong song writing ability and distinctiveness of Jack White’s voice.

The Sugars, whether they like it or not, will find their debut compared to The Stripes on numerous occasions. Unfortunately though, the album’s constituent ingredients do not provide anything quite so engaging.

"what’s the difference between retro and rehashed when you don’t bring anything new to the table?"

Its starts out quite promisingly; ‘Black Friday’ creates an initial burst of excitement, with a catchy bass riff hammering out over whirls of noise, dynamic percussion and guitar feedback. It has the kind of energy and pace that Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Third Stone From The Sun’ emits, and the bluesy vocals provided by Matt Bolton haven’t grown tiresome – yet.

As the album progresses, you can definitely tell The Sugars are trying to be ambitious with the diversity on offer, throwing blues, cinematic ballads, rock and retro elements into the blender. The effect though, is a clichéd mix of styles that don’t really stand out from the crowd.

The songs just aren’t that strong or original, while the vocals of Matt Bolton also start to grate quite soon; his voice doesn’t hold many unique characteristics; coming across as a slightly parodic version of old blues artists.

At best you could imagine the songs fitting a 1940’s style American detective movie, with dark, dry witted humour. A more realistic view is it has that faux-seedy style that you might find in a fledging cabaret club called The Ritz, a club where they try to appeal by bringing in burlesque dancers and calling it “high class.”

With all the throwback elements on display, The Sugars will likely be labelled as a “retro group,” but what’s the difference between retro and rehashed when you don’t bring anything new to the table?

++ Sam Crawford ++

Artrocker rating: 2

---

---

---