Natural Child

For the Love of the Game

BURGER RECORDS, 2012

Everything I hear on this release screams 1970’s AM radio, circa 1974 to be precise. I get the feeling the members of Natural Child were blessed with hearing an unusually large amount of Rick Derringer along with ‘Exile on Main Street’ and ‘Black and Blue’ era Stones. More than someone would be exposed to under normal conditions. It’s fine though. Those healthy levels brought about a beautiful lo-fi mutation where hints of Stooges styled punk and country tinged bubblegum pop help make for one of the more interesting recordings I’ve heard in a while.

“Baby,” and “Ain’t Gonna Stop,” sound like riffs Keith Richards forgot to record. “That’s How I got to Memphis,” is a twangy tear jerker in the vein of Big Star. “DTV” has the neurotic edginess of Iggy’s “Seek and Destroy.” There’s even an organ fueled “ParadiseHeights” sounding like background music from “The Harder They Come.”

Natural Child are fun, uncalculated and seem to have developed naturally.   The singers roughhewn vocals are fun, and the guitar is swampy, and unpretentious. This band struts like the best bar around, and they probably are.