On We Have Cause To Be Uneasy Wild Sweet Orange created an album of beautiful songs that manage to be personal and universal at the same time. Singer and guitarist Preston Lovinggood went deep and pulled out words that capture the cul-de-sac gone crazy, the globalization that has made every town and city identical, and the numb, empty feeling we all have to push through in order to find and remember what’s true and pure in this world.
“Sour Milk” is a perfect example of this. I first heard this gorgeous song on YouTube and crossed my fingers in hopes that the band would include it on their full-length since it was left off their EP (The Whale). Preston starts the song with his parents divorce and then manages to go into the rhetoric all children are told. “Oh did they think we wouldn’t grow up / Did they think we couldn’t throw back up / The sour milk they’ve been pouring down our throats”.
“Ten Dead Dogs” is another stand out song that is on the band’s EP (The Whale) and was featured on KEXP. It catches the listeners attention right away with the opening lyrics (”I saw ten dead dogs on the side of the road / Driving late last night to your apartment / And I thought it was an omen so I headed on back home / And walked in circles ’round my room…alone”). Preston manages to go from a personal relationship into the personal question of his direction in life (”I watched the sky turn from blue to black to red and yellow too / Before the purple dawn was filling up my room / And for a brief moment / I heard the whole Earth groaning / Like there was something it needed me to do”). With Preston’s soft vocals, breathy backing vocals, and stellar lyrics the song is likely to give you chills.
This album references God often and this shouldn’t come as a surprise since the band’s founding members met at church. The songs aren’t religious, though, as much as God is referenced casually, in passing, like a deity checking things out down below. While the majority of the songs on the album are soothing the band rocks out on a few tracks and this is where I think they missed their mark on occasion. It’s not that they can’t go fast and turn it up, because songs like “I’m Coming Home” and “Be Careful (What You Want)” on The Whale show their ability. On the full-length they don’t quite nail it on “Either/Or”, but they get it just right on “House Of Regret” – a song with scratchy guitars, a bad ass bass line at the end, and the best emo offerings a fan of twee music can hope for.
If you like what’s on We Have Cause To Be Uneasy and haven’t picked up the band’s EP (The Whale), go ahead and buy it. It’s worth it. The band is touring in support of the album so you can catch them live as well.
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