Cotton Teeth

Something happened to the Snake the Cross the Crown. Here's the deal: they put out a decent record, Mander Salis, in 2006. Then they went on the road for a year, came home, and made a good record -- in fact, it might even be called a really good record. Taking a huge leap from the plaintive {indie rock} found on their first album, Cotton Teeth finds the Snake the Cross the Crown landing squarely in mucky {country rock} territory, and boy does it fit them to a tee. Cotton Teeth is as plodding and weary as an insomniac summer night, and as gritty and wild as an alcohol-fueled all-night bender. It's also very well made -- these songs are built like brick houses. The Great American Smokeout and Gypsy Melodies are addictive in the way tunes by the Band and Creedence are addictive; it's rootsy, rollicking, and just plain comfortable. Speaking of the Band, Electronic Dream Plant has all the elegant, browbeaten loveliness of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Bob Dylan is a touchstone here, too; the title track is made up of the kind of knotted, lonesome narrative that reminds you of Dylan back before he started slinging an electric guitar. Naturally, this isn't a flawless record. The soggy electronic noodling of Floating in & Out is a tad fatiguing; it feels a little lost, as if it had made its way onto the record by mistake. One small misstep, however, does not a bad album make, and one leaves this record with the sense that Cotton Teeth is the band's best effort to date -- not to mention an engaging, memorable album in its own right. ~ Margaret Reges, All Music Guide