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The Cash Brothers
A BRAND NEW NIGHT
(ZOE/ROUNDER)
Stars graphics

Although the synthesized drum pattern that kicks off the opening "Shadow of Doubt" suggests that the Cash Brothers are aiming for broader contempo-pop terrain than the acoustic hues that colored their 2001 debut, this sophomore follow-up to How Was Tomorrow finds singers/guitarists Andrew and Peter Cash still doing what they do best. In fact, the brighter, fuller instrumentation that frames the songs here both enhances and refines the Canadian-born brothers’ gift for creating lean yet laid-back-sounding tunes about restless characters trying to figure out what to do with their lives.

"Dealing with the Distance" is a lovely, troubling sketch that finds the singer stranded far from home "in an old cold phone booth when you told me you were pregnant." All he can hear, over the mid-tempo shamble of electric guitars and percussion, is his lover’s trembling voice and a howling wind. A similar deserted wilderness of drift and existential doubt underpins the hollow comedown of "Forget About the Dust." Just about the only miscue is the pedestrian sub-Sheryl-Crow-style rock-by-the-numbers of "Give Me Your Hips," which sounds like an afterthought. Anchoring the material are the brothers’ sublime, sibling-close vocal harmonies and winsome melodies, which, like the Jayhawks’ best works or the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, make melancholy something fetching to revel in.

BY JONATHAN PERRY


Issue Date: August 22 - August 28, 2003
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