The Reigning Sound

Idea: what if Greg Cartwright is the contemporary American singer/songwriter? Sure sure, Cartwright (a.k.a. Greg Oblivian) may not have the cutesy indie-folk profile of Bon Iver or whomever. But the Memphis-born, Memphis-raised frontman of The Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, and The Reigning Sound writes tuneful, melancholy, devastatingly affected songs, steeped in the jukebox history of American rock ’n’ roll. In The Reigning Sound, Cartwright cooks up guitar-driven garage rock that evokes whole landscapes of Americana, from the malt shop the punk club. The haven’t put together a proper full-length since 2009’s Love And Curses (with the exception of a 2011 digital EP issued by Toyota Scion), but any chance to hear cuts from records like Time Bomb High School orToo Much Guitar, as well as a few Oblivians deep cuts, is worth seizing.

Updated 06/05/2012