The sleeve design shows a lot of the story of this album with husband and wife team Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland gazing at each other from opposite sides of the CD it contains – are we looking at lust or amusement or some kind of competition between the two – all these are contained in the album and it bristles with the sort of passions that are aroused by a marriage of talented and successful equals.
The album is loaded with great harmonies and guitar playing (they are both fine guitarists) and songs that tell real stories and sing of real adult situations. The music crosses all sorts of borders, touching on Mexicali (‘Baby What’s Wrong’), or balls out boogie (‘Downtown’) or the dark and brooding ‘Evangelina’ but every track has a characteristic swing and sense of feel that is clear evidence of what makes them regular nominations for awards all over the world.
Then there is ‘Sweet Disaster’ = heavy, dense and uplifting all at once.
Gus Van Go delivers bass across the whole album and produces an unflagging heartbeat and they have an impressive set of side-men throughout but it is the songs and the mutual commitment that makes this so special.
Every now and again two musicians get together and produce something that is far more than the capabilities of the individuals and while Doucet and McLelland have both had stellar careers this album is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
