The men of newer Alberta Cross songs are fighting the urge to blame anything happening on everyone else but themselves. They are songs of older men who have said so many things to so many other people that have been remembered, that have hurt and some of which that have make others feel good. They are men with weathered skin and crow's feet at the corners of their eyes. They are slower moving and they're more compassionate. They've learned well enough that they're just people and sometimes that can be extremely painful.
Lead singer Petter Ericson Stakee makes these moods where we feel like we're sitting at the base of a sprawling and healthy, ancient weeping willow tree, the vine-like branches dangling down like leafy, frozen rain. It feels safe under there, where even the rains - if they should fall - would only get partially through and they'd likely just cool off a humid day, be savior-like when they hit. Stakee thunders with his soul, giving us stories that come out of houses that need paint jobs, fields that need tending and bodies that need energy and another body to hold.
*Essay originally published February, 2012