Drug Rug
Wed Jan 13 2010
Sarah Cronin and Tommy Allen, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, couple at the front of Drug Rug, initially convened as a Carter Family--smitten acoustic duo. Although the singers soon secured electric backing, their subsequent work maintains a naive sparkle that seems akin to that of freshly plugged-in acid-folk artists of the mid-’60s. Drug Rug’s two albums, a self-titled debut from 2007 and last year’s Paint the Fence Invisible (both on Black & Greene), sound specific to a time when jug bands roamed the earth, but not necessarily dated. Rather, working within an increasingly fragmentized music climate, the young songwriters seem to intuitively process their world—especially romantic relations—through an electric haze learned off old Byrds records. The duo’s innate grasp of pop doesn’t hurt: The fuzzy guitars and dazed, interwoven vocals are fetching, but this band ultimately pivots on its old-fashioned melodic panache.—Jay Ruttenberg
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