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When this Atlanta duo debuted earlier this year with the “Burn Down Our Own Home” single, I was instantly smitten, comparing (in MAGNET #59) NRC’s strummy, harmony-strewn sound to that of Alejandro Escovedo and Whiskeytown. The 45 was scant preparation, however, for the impact the new full-length bow wields. Let’s face it, folks can namedrop as many alt-country pioneers and icons they wish—in NRC’s case, Gram & Emmylou, Jayhawks, Richard Buckner, Ryan Adams and Escovedo clearly loom large as influences—but at the end of the day, it really boils down to: Does the musical act have memorable tunes, and does it bring something unique to the table? Here, on both counts, the answer is an unequivocal “yes.” The lovely original “Fainter On My Tongue” finds Drew de Man against a backdrop of burnished guitars and co-vocalist Terri Kay Onstad’s lush cello lines, ruminating on a relationship that grew violent (“You kissed me with a left hook/Leave me standing like a scarecrow”) and went south. The tone of rueful regret in de Man’s voice is so convincing you can’t help but wonder if the tune’s painful to perform night after night. It’s a dark album, in fact (the title is instructive), made darker still by a cover of U2’s harrowing junkie portrait “Running To Stand Still.” It’s deceptively upbeat and twangy, with a buoyant de Man/Onstad vocal duet in the foreground and a sweet accordion figure running throughout. Yet the shock of recognition—at unexpectedly hearing a tune from the past so expertly overhauled as to suggest it was

originally written with such a country-rock arrangement in mind—is what lends “RTSS” its power. In this instance, the cover bests the original. Like the telltale taste of a shot of dope on the back of your tongue just before the body rush hits, the song is delicious, erotically charged and absolutely terrifying.

-Fred Mills