^{Alberta Cross — Songs of Patience}
Location: London, England, U.K. ~ Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Album release: July 17, 2012
Record Label: Ato Records
Duration:     43:06
Tracklist:
01. Magnolia     5:19
02. Crate of Gold     3:03
03. Lay Down     4:31
04. Come on Maker     4:13
05. Ophelia on My Mind     3:49
06. Wasteland     4:03
07. I Believe in Everything     4:05
08. Life Without Warning     5:24
09. Money for the Weekend (Pocket Full of Shame)     3:23
10. Bonfires     5:19
11. Crate of Gold (Live at Converse Rubber Tracks Austin — Bonus Track)     3:24
Members: Petter Ericson Stakee (vocals, guitar) & Terry Wolfers (bass).  Website: http://www.albertacross.net  // ATO Records: http://atorecords.com  
◊     “…a British take on Southern rock…the seismic guitars and high vocals look to My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon and Crazy Horse…but Alberta Cross sets aside those American bands’ redemptive undercurrents of blues and gospel; instead it plunges into the very English despair of bands like Pink Floyd.” — The New York Times
◊     “…familiar and refreshing...Alberta Cross has taken incredible strides to earn global recognition.” — NPR
◊     “combining wind tunnels of bent guitar riffs and distorted power chords with the haunting melodies of rural American music. It’s all topped by Ericson Stakee’s sweet, high~lonesome voice, which recalls both Jim James and Neil Young.” — Rolling Stone
◊     “…fog~clearing pipes nod to MMJ’s Jim James, and whose South~of~the~Mason–Dixon guitar chops recall the Followill Bros.” — Spin
◊     “…an intoxicating mix of apocalyptic riffs, sob — worthy singalongs and brooding blues.” (8 out of 10) – NME
◊     “…as electrically dark as it is electrifyingly determined… these ten songs have a kind of will of their own to reach our eardrums and come out the other side as goose bumps.” – Esquire
◊     “…a hard~hitting, rock~driven affair, Lwith folk and soul undertones.” — BlackBook                        © Alberta Cross at The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ / Author: L.H. Collins 
Editorial Reviews from Amazon.com:
◊  The title of Alberta Cross’ 2012 studio album, Songs of Patience is, in many ways, literal. It’s been three long years since the band last released a full~length album. The highs and lows of their journey raised a grander set of ideas, infusing the disc’s title with additional universal meaning. After touring extensively on their debut, Broken Side Of Time, with bands like Them Crooked Vultures, Oasis, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and stopping at festivals like Bonnaroo and Sasquatch, Alberta Cross headed to an old, abandoned house in the middle of nowhere near Woodstock, NY. There, they braved freezing winter and embraced a sense of the building’s haunted past to envision ideas for a new record. In the end, the record is the sum of three year's worth of parts — a struggle that concluded in victory. Three different producers, Joe Chiccarelli, Mike Daly and Claudius Mittendorfer. It opens new possibilities for the band's visceral live show, a notable facet of the group defined by their raucous, gritty onstage performances that swell the tracks into bigger, more expansive versions of themselves.
By Bryant Kitching on July 18th, 2012 (http://consequenceofsound.net)
◊     London’s Alberta Cross has always used its U2~like fixation with Americana to its advantage, straddling the line between beer~swilling good ol’ boys like Kings of Leon and Union Jack~waving Brit rockers. If the band’s sophomore LP, Songs of Patience, proves anything, it’s that they have the musical chops to play either one of those roles with ease. But do we really need any more Followills or Gallaghers running around? When Alberta Cross is able to pull off this delicate balancing act (keyword: when), it results in songs that are more inventive and compelling than most of what passes for rock these days.
◊     Opener “Magnolia” hears the band roll out of bed after a night of hard drinking with their sights set on a beautiful Southern sunrise. Singer/guitarist Petter Ericson Stakee’s voice sounds positively dewy as he howls about “dragging down the morning sun.” A hint of gospel enters the mix as the track soars to its climax, leaving behind a warm glow worthy of replays.
◊     Stakee & Co. come packing heat on the album’s first half. You can almost feel the steam rising from “Crate of Gold”, which sounds ripped straight from a Neil Young & Crazy Horse jam session on a sweaty summer night circa 1970, while “Lay Down” takes a page from the OK Computer handbook with its anthemic guitar solo and Thom Yorkian sense of grandeur. The twist is Alberta Cross’ signature touch of twang that gives a fresh take on otherwise well~worn territory.
◊     Unfortunately, the magic doesn’t always last. “Wasteland” hopelessly falls off the Brit~pop deep end, sounding like a bad Richard Ashcroft B~side. “Money for the Weekend (Pocket Full of Shame)” is danceable enough, but in the larger context of the album, it feels about as out of place as a London hipster in a small~town Texas honky~tonk. It may have been better suited for the Madden ’12 soundtrack, where it originally premiered last year.
◊     Thankfully, these minor transgressions are easy to forgive and ultimately overlook. Alberta Cross sticks to its Atlantic Ocean~spanning guns on Songs of Patience, and more often than not, it hits the target dead on.
Essential tracks: “Magnolia”  /  Our rating:  ***