Gainesville, Florida-based family band Morningbell released their fourth full-length, Sincerely, Severely, on December 1st via their own label, Orange Records Of Gainesville. Although brothers Eric and Travis Atria have been playing together since they were children, Morningbell was formed in 2000 and now includes Chris Hillman on drums and Eric's wife Stacie Thrushman on keyboards. The band gained momentum with four national tours and released its last album, Through The Belly Of The Sea, in 2007.

Initially raucous and upbeat, this new album is reminiscent of the psychedelia of the early '70s and glam of the early '80s. Though the band's sound isn't entirely unique, the music on Sincerely, Severely feels not recycled but re-birthed. And even though the song's metaphors are occasionally disorienting, they are fascinating. (For example, "I felt smaller than a blue wale, bigger than a fly.") The masterpiece of the album, "Stay In the Garden," is eerily evocative of the White Stripes' early work with its sinister, spare melody emerging from underneath the thrum of upright bass and Travis' vocals taking on shades of Jack White's raw, shaky whisper as he delivers the track's culminating question, "Oh Eve, won't you stay in the garden one more night with me?" Whether it is the appeal of his voice or our natural inclination towards the malevolent, but we linger.

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