The future's so bright I've got to wear shades or so the song goes anyway. There is sunshine in the past too if four piece Philadelphia band The Lawsuits are to be believed and they present the evidence in the form of their new album "Darleen".
It would, of course, be easy to find them guilty on all counts and sentence them to hard time next to fellow revivalists like the Old Crow Medicine Show. Only, it isn't that simple and The Lawsuits have a compelling set of mitigating circumstances (you might better call them songs but I'm big on the metaphors today). With influences reaching back to the tail end of west coast folk rock (with a bit of Delaney and Bonnie thrown in) and even British seventies pop ("Hot Mama" and "You're A Star" could easily have come from the pen of the Chinn/Chapman hit machine), The Lawsuits have that easy going feel down pat. That said, there is no sign of a lack of effort when it comes to the song writing with each one carefully crafted.
While songs like "Summer Lea" ooze the Midwest equivalent of Californian sunshine and charm, the star turn here is the pale blue "Shooting Star" that digs a tunnel to stardom for the adorable vocal talents of Vanessa Winters. She sings "I'll never fall in love again". If she's not going to do it then I'll do it for her. It's as simple as that.
In some ways old fashioned, "Darleen" is proof that it isn't what you do but how you do it that counts and The Lawsuits do what they do with undeniable class here.
Available on a pay what you like basis from Bandcamp.