A few months ago, I raved about Exebelle & The Rusted Cavalcade‘s C.A.F. EP. Well, I’m not going to babble on as much as I did last time, but I really dig this one, too. Their new 7 song offering, Vivement l’Automne is again full of rootsy, swinging, barn-burning tunes that makes me hope that these fellas from Virginia keep churning these bad boys out.

LISTEN: “Rosasharn” – Exebelle & The Rusted Cavalcade

LISTEN: “We’ll Go On” – Exebelle & The Rusted Cavalcade

******************************

The more that people talk about the LP’s descent into “endangered species” status, the more I like the idea of band’s releasing EP’s. I haven’t totally figured out why necessarily, but I often feel as though an EP is a more concentrated and focused effort, simply due to the smaller number of tracks. I could be wrong, there might be a million examples of meandering, meaningless EP’s that are filled with 4-5 songs of filler or throw-away tracks. One recent EP that is packed with quality material is C.A.F., the most recent release from Virginia’s Exebelle & Rusted Cavalcade (Myspace / Bandcamp page).

The opening track, “I Wont Love You to Death (But I’ll Love You to the Door)” is a honky-tonk number that has some serious sawdust on it’s heels. On certain tracks, specifically “Tomorrow I’m a Ghost”, the crying of the pedal steel of Kerry Hutcherson that opens the song is an indispensable table-setter while the homespun vocals of Phillip Heeson III warmly wraps around the mandolin that crawls into the tune. For an album that is deceivingly polished, it has found a pleasing middle-ground. C.A.F. lacks the slippery shine of modern-country and also avoids the overly earnest rawness of many trendier-than-thou string bands that simply try too hard.

LISTEN: Exebelle & Rusted Cavalcade – “I Wont Love You to Death (But I’ll Love You to the Door)”

************************************************