Put Your Sunshine Away

Put Your Sunshine Away

It's a bit of a mystery that Gospel Claws have been flying under the radar for some time. The Arizona outfit makes rock music that's undeniably anthemic at heart, somehow very American at the core. Though it's marinated in retro flavors (namecheck: The Walker Brothers, Phil Spector, Righteous Brothers, Sam Cooke), it feels wholly original. Gospel Claws' second album, Put Your Sunshine Away, is so full of fantastic guitar swells and melodic, swoony vocals that their current state of indieness feels like a goof. Someone's asleep at the major-label wheel! (Kudos to Common Wall for its good taste.) Vocalist Joel Marquard's voice careens and veers wherever the clanging guitars, blaring horns, pianos, and pummeled drums of his bandmates take him; he sounds at times like a blend of Roy Orbison, Jarvis Cocker, and Bono. Handclaps, reverb, ace songwriting, and a whole lotta soul make this work by Gospel Claws a beautiful thing. If you like a little more garage in your rock, try their 2010 LP, C-L-A-W-S, which runs The Strokes through a Southwestern filter and is a darn good time.

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