I actually have seen The Rosebuds live. In July 2011, they opened for Bon Iver on the opening night of the national tour. They were fine enough, they had some nice folk vibes and some catchy tunes. I enjoyed them enough, even if they didn’t exactly stick out. Then a few days ago, they released this free album, a cover of Sade’s Love Deluxe. A smooth soul album. Needless to say, I was a bit confused. And even after listening, I’m still rather confused.

They covered the entire album, front to back. Now, folk has earned a lot of R&b influence as of late (Thanks to Bon Iver). However, this seemingly pushes the trend to a ridiculous extreme. The opener, No Ordinary Love, doesn’t really change the instrumentation enough from the original to make it interesting (Save some slightly louder percussion). Lead singer Ivan Howard’s singing on this track (And pretty much every other one) comes across as a bit awkward and forced.

In fact, this whole tape comes across as a bit awkward and forced. The “Whoa-ohs” and “Uh-huhs” at the beginning of Feel No Pain nearly made me gag. This is less of a fully realized project and more of a drunken Karaoke night. Except the only songs you can singer are from Sade’s The Love Deluxe. And the only people singing is your awkward white friend from accounting.

Even a lot of the instrumentation here feels really out of place. The guitars on Feel No Pain are very odd for the group, as are all the synths thrown around throughout the album. Plus, there’s no emotion anywhere to be found on this tape. They’re just playing the notes. It’s as if Howard is just singing random words. Which isn’t how it should work, because Sade’s music is just jam packed with emotion. This rendition is jam packed with cheese.

Some of the tracks are alright. Couldn’t Love You More sounds pretty good (if not a bit repetitive). And the sax on Bullet Proof Soul sounds alright. But outside of that, this entirely nonsensical project just comes across as awkward and forced. A tribute gone wrong. Influences over-influencing. It’s just mediocre.

This tape might just be some kind of a throwaway, but that doesn’t matter to me. Regardless of whether it’s a real project or just a fun little side thing they did because they were bored, it’s still pretty awful. I’d rather just listen to Sade’s album. and just leave The Rosebuds to their usual (Not R&B) style.

Summary: The Rosebuds’ cover of The Love Deluxe is influenced a bit too much, and comes across as more awkward and forced than earnest and smooth

Choice Cuts- Couldn’t Love You More, Bullet Proof Soul

1/5

You can stream and download the entire tape below.