Music Review: The Love Language's 'Ruby Red' -- 3 stars

‘Ruby Red’
The Love Language
3 stars
The third album from this North Carolina-based project anchored by songwriter Stuart McLamb is a polished collection of highly textured, massive-sounding ’60s orchestral pop numbers with doses of corrosive psychedelia bleeding through every fracture. Many a slow, doomy ballad begins in meandering mode before escalating into an unholy racket, as if McLamb puts his faith in obliterating noise to cauterize the uncertainty espoused by his inner-leaning lyrics. While the balance of the record is bulked up with slightly wearying bombast, there are dialed-in gems like “Hi Life,” which sounds like the Sea and Cake turned up to 11, or “First Shot,” with its sludgy opening groove, leering guitars and spooky Donovan-esque chorus, that sharply refocus this expansive affair.