Album Review

Alberta Cross – The Thief and the Heartbreaker

• 24th May 2007

Electric, escapist alt folk from a Swede and a Brit. Petter Ericson Stakee’s vocals soar up on a higher plain. Haunted and beautifully grandiose, with parts of Rufus Wainwright, Soulsavers and Guillemots, lifted by a heavenly chorale of backing vocals. An unlikely mishmash, looking like two 60’s travelling hillbillies, but together they’re a perfect musical combination.

These are dreamy and emotive mantras, like flying over vast natural landscapes and mountain ranges, then landing by a tranquil lakeside. You could imagine one of their live shows in an old church with the audience all sat cross-legged on the floor, the whole building lit solely by candles.

Lyrically moving and spiritually profound “the devil’s all you ever had now love…I went to see the preacher man to see where the world went wrong”.

There’s bluegrass, folk, country and gospel in Alberta Cross’s blender, and it pours out in a perfect, lump less smoothie – and it tastes glorious!