Alberta Cross‘ 2009 album Broken Side of Time was released through Ark Recordings and features more than clever verses and catchy choruses. Truly timeless albums offer listeners the keys to another world; they catapult you into another frame of mind and jostle your soul a little bit along the way. Broken Side of Time is one of those albums.
Broken Side of Time took root in an April 2008 jam session, guitarist/vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist Terry Wolfers first with three players they would quickly enlistguitarist Sam Kearney, drummer Austin Beede and keyboardist Alec Higgins. With the aid of a little drink and a little smoke, the five jammed on a group of Stakees then-new songs, giving birth to Alberta Cross second incarnation almost immediately: I remember thinking that night, This is gonna be insane, reminisces Stakee.
Their well-received debut EP, 2007s ‘The Thief & the Heartbreaker’, was a modest, folk-minded, acoustic-based disc that garnered glowing reviews. But, for Stakee and Wolfers, it was a baby step. This, meanwhile, is a giant stride ahead, one that marks the bands official introduction to America. Recorded in Austin, produced by the band with Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Dead Confederate, Heartless Bastards) & mixed by John OMahony (Depeche Mode, Coldplay, Kasabian) at Electric Lady Studios, the album melds propulsive, throbbing bass lines and crashing waves of guitar to a haunting, impassioned voice that can sound ancient and Appalachian.
Something of an about-face from ‘The Thief & the Heartbreaker’, the album, says Stakee, bears the influence of years of frustration logged in the shadow of Manhattan: Its kind of a desperation album, a darker album; its definitely angrier. Weve been in a crazy place during the whole album, and you can hear that. Appropriately, Stakee was listening to Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, and the grimmer, gospel songs of Depeche Mode while writing the songs of ‘Broken Side of Time’. On songs like ‘Rise From the Shadows’ and ‘Ghost of City Life’ he speaks directly of their situation and surroundings.
Alberta Cross have toured extensively through the UK, sharing the stage with Oasis, The Shins, Bat for Lashes and Simian Mobile Disco, among others. If we werent playing for people every night, we would be going mad Stakee says. Adds Wolfers, we do it, because we need to.
