 Crooked Fingers Red Devil Dawn
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As frontman for Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann may have sprung from Chapel Hill, North Carolina's hallowed indie rock scene, but owes as much to his Neil Diamond records . . . and that's a good thing. In fact, Red Devil Dawn, the second full-length from Bachmann's rootsy post-Loaf project Crooked Fingers, is the sort of record you'd expect the Solitary Man to produce after quality time spent in a Texas cantina. Over a backdrop of trumpets, cello, fiddle, mandolin and lap steel, Bachmann and his acoustic guitar deliver American gothic tales of boys with 100 hands, bad men coming in the night, and lonely girls named "Angelina" and "Sweet Marie." His raspy voice is equally adept at haunting Read More ghostly lullabies like "Carrion Doves" or igniting anthemic toe-tappers like "You Threw a Spark." Red Devil Dawn is as intricate and bewitching as the work of Tom Waits or the Tindersticks, and as shimmering and infectious as, well, you know who. You'll be a believer. BILL CRANDALL (RS 915 - February 6, 2003)
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