Mistletone

Mistletone is truly thrilled to welcome the mighty Cash Savage and The Last Drinks to the family. Cash’s much-awaited third studio album, One Of Us is out now on Mistletone Records via Inertia Music. Pre-order LPs or buy CDs here; all mail orders will receive a signed CD or LP, while stocks last. Watch the video for “Falling, Landing” above and watch rollicking on-tour footage in “Rat-A-Tat-Tat”, below:

• ALBUM OF THE WEEK – 3RRR, 3PBS, RTR-FM, Beat Magazine
• “There’s a pain that rattles the core of Cash Savage’s third album… full of blues grunt and country groove that holler badass one minute and banjo tinged mellow the next” –  THE AGE 4.5 stars ★★★★☆
• “Savage comes at us with gruff, dirty-fingernails country-rock like her life depends on it” – HERALD SUN ★★★★
• “​Will make you want to dance, cry and croon all at once. It’s damn good value in our books​” – FRANKIE MAGAZINE
• “Rat-a-tat-tat might be unmatched as the best Aussie single of 2016. Savage gloriously steers a charged vocal  ensemble into the next world” – THE BIG ISSUE ★★★★
• “One Of Us is a particularly apt title for an album which grapples so thoughtfully and skilfully with questions, cares, ideas and experiences known to all humanity.  Cash Savage is recognised for her supreme storytelling skill, and across this new collection of songs recounts certain peaks and lows of the past year, always with compassion and humour, wisdom and insight. The potent lyrics are matched by equally impassioned musical performances: a clear, indomitable spirit” – TRIPLE R ALBUM OF THE WEEK
• “A big step beyond its two excellent predecessors, (One of Us) is layered with confidence, attention, ease and cohesion. It packs a big sound… It’s Cash Savage as we know and love, with modern menace from The Last Drinks” — 3PBS-FM (Feature Album)
• “There is a mixture of dark and light on One of Us…. Do You Feel Loved breaks from memory into frenetic celebration, My Friend is equal parts sincerity, sadness and love and Song For a Funeral is so heavy it buckles your shoulders and breaks your heart” – BEAT MAGAZINE ALBUM OF THE WEEK
• “One of the most respected songwriters in the Melbourne underground, Cash Savage has forged a reputation for gritty, raw, and Australiana-tinged storytelling; a vivid depiction of highs and lows” – FASTERLOUDER
• “Cash Savage is a unique figure. She looks like the love-child of Chrissie Amphlett and Rock Hudson, has the low notes of Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano but uses them like Angel Olsen… an excellent balance between the hideous power of gothic country, folk and blues and a band that can really pack them in the aisles” – 4ZZZ
• “Low down and dirty and in thrall to the kind of bygone era country-blues that liked the dark and didn’t bother with a porchlight… With her hard-swingin’, hard-twangin’ band The Last Drinks, (Cash Savage’s) latest howling missive One Of Us often sounds as though its main influence was whiskey. Gloriously reverb-sodden, it has the same kind of lurch that marked Nick Cave’s early work and Savage has taken the mercy seat all to herself” – 2SER

Ask Cash Savage how last year was and she’d tell you: “it was fucking awesome, but fucking hard”. It’s a statement that’s been instilled into the Melburnian’s growling alt-country for years, but never so strongly as on her newest album, One Of Us. In it, Cash Savage explores beauty, freedom and the darkness that seep into even the supposedly safest of realms: family, friendship, sleep and love. One Of Us is a record of duality, one that marks another stage of growth for Cash Savage and the Last Drinks.

The ecstatic highs and devastating lows of 2015 would shape One Of Us, Cash Savage and The Last Drinks’ debut album for new label, Mistletone Records. There was her marriage, a European tour and the loss of a few close friends and family to suicide. After a long spell from writing, allowing these emotional events to sink in, Cash Savage grabbed a six-pack, headed off to the studio, turned her guitar up to 12 and began composing the songs that would form One Of Us. Produced by Nick Finch and recorded by Nao Anzai at Head Gap in Melbourne, One Of Us follows on from 2013’s critically acclaimed, The Hypnotiser and is packed tight with the kind of well-crafted, country and blues ear candy the band has become known for.

Cash Savage opens One Of Us with “Falling, Landing”, a song of appreciation, with a lingering vision of potentially having been reduced to nothing. “Run With The Dogs”, “Sunday Morning” and “My Friend” continues to explore the reality that falling hard – both in love and in loss – demands a whole-world understanding that includes our darker sides. By the end of the record, on title track, One Of Us, Cash faces the actuality that even though we are together, ultimately we’re always alone.

Influences beyond loss come in the form of bizarre occurrences, like “Do You Feel Loved”, which recounts witnessing a go-go dancing class in a local pub one rainy night and the insomnia tainted “Rat-A-Tat-Tat”. “Empty Page” comes from a long bout of writer’s block, while the hymnal ache of “Song For A Funeral” is where we find Cash’s ability to craft devastating honesty with her growling vocal exemplified. The Last Drinks added a multitude of instrumentation to the record, fleshing out Savage’s original compositions; Cash’s astonishing and confident vocals allow the musicians around her to flourish. Joe White provides soaring guitar work; Rene Mancuso contributes drums and percussion; Chris Lichti adds bass; and Brett Marshall lifts numerous songs with banjo accompaniments. Finally, Kat Mear on violin brings to light the eerie cadence and dramatic swells of the album’s dark side.

In the end, Cash fulfils the promise many heard on the first two albums and brings her most realised effort of song-writing and lyricism to fruition. The songs on One Of Us reflect the grieving that comes from loss and embrace the new road ahead. This new effort is bound to be regarded as Cash’s most intricate work to date.