New (Re) Release: Wild Sweet Orange’s “We Have Cause To Be Uneasy”
Back in 2008, twelve years ago, which is mindblowing, I was in the thick of university in Montreal and really only letting myself spend money on concert tickets for Augustana and Jack’s Mannequin. Because, again, university students. But lucky for me, the openers for each band respectively have stuck with me as favorites till this day. Be it Chicago’s Treaty of Paris, coming from my Midwest youth, to Vega4 which included lead singer Johnny McDaid jumping into the crowd and dancing with a fan to their big hit “Life is Beautiful”, a man that went on to write with artists like Ed Sheeran and plays in Snow Patrol. But I think the one who sticks out most were the Birmingham, Alabama based Wild Sweet Orange, who opened for Augustana on their 2008 headlining run.
They only put out two releases, the Whale EP, and their debut full length, We Have Cause to Be Uneasy, an album that still resonates with me to this day and to many. Even including Paris Jackson, Michael Jackson’s daughter, covering them recently. Lucky for longtime fans, today in a ocean of bands releasing new albums, songs, frontman Preston Lovinggood, has allowed the album to re-release on the interwebs today. It’s a bittersweet release as Lovinggood announced that it’s likely he won’t continue to play these songs as much as on his IG streams he’s been doing every Thursday. But now it’s an album we can slide into now as both old and new listeners as an album that deserves a serious re-listen or a band for you to check out if you haven’t heard of the band yet.
The band’s run as a band was cut shorter than most careers with the band calling it a day in 2010 after six years as a band, but the album is a true masterpiece, and one I wanted to reflect on. Be it the slower numbers like Aretha’s Gold and Ten Dead Dogs to the more upbeat tracks like Either/Or with a great rock and roll feel and an incredible video to match. It reads similar to bands like Manchester Orchestra and of course in a very positive way. Make sure to follow Lovinggood on IG here and keep his IG live content on your schedule. For me, there have definitely been several musicians that I try to never miss when they go live, interview series that I never miss and I try to always file Lovinggood in that file.
Pick up the album here!