Our friends at The East & The Crow gave us advance access to their new album 'St. Rita's Dream and Other Recordings from the Garage'. It drops tomorrow! For the first time in Alt Revue (and possibly music journalism) history, we're going to do a tag-team review of this album! Michael La Torre, Founder and Editor-in-Chief is being joined by Nicholas La Torre, Managing Editor! Here we go!
Advance Review - The East & The Crow: St. Rita's Dream and Other Recordings from the Garage (September 12, 2020)
The East & The Crow open St. Rita's Dream and Other Recordings from the Garage with "St. Rita's Dream" an absolute banger of a tune that kicks the door in for the album. The intro built slowly with acoustics which eventually lead into a rocking melody featuring screaming guitars. The only thing we wish we had more of from this tune was isolated guitar solos. However, for an opener we'll take this all day every day. We're antsy to see where the album goes from here. Fun fact, Saint Rita in the Catholic Church is the patron saint of loneliness, among other things (do the research!).
"6:45 AM" highlights lead singer's Brian Wright's vocals which reminded Michael of Aaron Lewis of Staind fame and reminded Nicholas of Shaun Morgan from Seether. We absolutely loved the bluesy-tinged guitar solos present throughout the track. The melody was strong throughout as well and is definitely toward the catchy/upbeat side of music. "Run Away" is the slower tune of the album. Our interpretation of the track is that it addresses self-doubt, as well as external pressures of making something of yourself, despite countless obstacles. We both loved the guitar and piano solos in this one, absolutely terrific.
Lyrically, "With These Two Hands" brings up a number of issues that may be personal to the band. However, it can also be something with which a number listeners can relate to, leaving it to the listener to decide which is most important. Musically, the song carries dark overtones that fit the themes that are discussed well.
Favorite Tracks - "St. Rita's Dream", "6:45 AM", and "Run Away"
Closing Thoughts - Overall, our favorite track on the album was "St. Rita's Dream" hands down. That track highlights the best of The East & The Crow's talent in both story telling and musically. Lyrically, The East & The Crow ask a lot of great questions, but we're not always sure they give us the answers, which piques our interest, but feels unsettling at the same time. One thing we noticed that troubled us a little bit, was that the mix seemed to key in on the vocals a bit too much, which overwhelmed the music just a bit. Don't get us wrong, the vocals are great, but there's a lot of powerful instrumentation there too. St. Rita's Dream & Other Recording from the Garage is an earnest, honest, and emotional album that makes the listener look inward at parts of themselves they may not want to face. We'd be remiss if we didn't highlight the music. The instrumentation on the album was diverse, cohesive, and full-bodied like a good bourbon. The East & The Crow have a bright future in their Texas region and beyond.
Rating - 4/5
To pre-save the album, you can do so here.