Loose Salute Tuned To Love

The Loose Salute is the brainchild of Mojave 3 (and latter day Slowdive) drummer Ian McCutcheon and vocalist Lisa Billson, who McCutcheon reportedly discovered singing along to Bob Dylan in the kitchen of a rehearsal room's café. The group issued a well-received EP, the quirkily titled Suck It Up Buttercup, back in 2004 but McCutcheon's Mojave 3 day job and the usual array money/label issues initially hindered The Loose Salute's progress. Finally, thanks to a new deal with the fantastic Chicago indie label Graveface, the band has found a home for its debut album, Tuned To Love, a summery pop record that should confirm The Loose Salute's status, not as a novelty side project, but as a fully fledged band in its own right.

If it's groundbreaking music you're after, however, I'm afraid you've picked up the wrong disc. It's apparent from the off that McCutcheon and Billson are not in the business of experimenting. It's also clear than McCutcheon is not actively trying to distance himself from Mojave 3's work. One of the Tuned To Love's stronger tracks The Mutineer also featured on last Mojave 3 album, Puzzles Like You. It's a great tune with a simple melody and an understated vocal from McCutcheon, whose whispery delivery isn't a million miles away from that of Neil Halstead, but did it really need to feature again? Elsewhere there are plenty of other tunes that wouldn't sound too out of place on one of the more recent Mojave 3 records and tellingly the real highlights come when the Loose Salute moves out of the shadow of its leader's band.

In other words, The Loose Salute sounds best when Lisa Billson is commanding the microphone. She has a cracking voice, perfectly suited to wistful country tinged ballads such as Photographs and Tickets and album closer Ship on the Ocean, and her vocal performances elevate this record onto a different level. She's no Neko Case, but the likes of Jenny Lewis and Leslie Feist had better watch out.

It might not blow you away - it certainly won't surprise you - but Tuned To Love is ultimately a pretty decent summer record, conjuring up nostalgic, sun-soaked images of beaches, friendship and surfing (see From Head To Sandy Toes). If that sounds unbearably clichéd then the Loose Salute probably isn't the summer soundtrack for you.