More than clever verses and catchy choruses, truly timeless albums offer listeners the keys to another world; they catapult you into another frame of mind and jostle your soul a little bit along the way. Broken Side of Time, Alberta Cross' ATO Records debut, is one of those albums. A cathartic, kaleidoscope of influences, from Depeche Mode to The Band, it's also the sound of Alberta Cross' two principals--frontman/guitarist-vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist Terry Wolfers--going for broke and stumbling across the sound of their dreams in the process. Broken Side of Time took root in an April 2008 jam session, Stakee and Wolfers' first with three players they would quickly enlist--guitarist Sam Kearney, drummer Austin Beede and keyboardist Alec Higgins. ...show more

More than clever verses and catchy choruses, truly timeless albums offer listeners the keys to another world; they catapult you into another frame of mind and jostle your soul a little bit along the way. Broken Side of Time, Alberta Cross' ATO Records debut, is one of those albums. A cathartic, kaleidoscope of influences, from Depeche Mode to The Band, it's also the sound of Alberta Cross' two principals--frontman/guitarist-vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist Terry Wolfers--going for broke and stumbling across the sound of their dreams in the process. Broken Side of Time took root in an April 2008 jam session, Stakee and Wolfers' first with three players they would quickly enlist--guitarist Sam Kearney, drummer Austin Beede and keyboardist Alec Higgins.

With the aid of a little drink and a little smoke, the five jammed on a group of Stakee's then-new songs, giving birth to Alberta Cross' second incarnation almost immediately: "I remember thinking that night, 'This is gonna be insane,'" remembers Stakee. It was a time of upheaval for Stakee and Wolfers, ex-pat Brits living in Brooklyn. They had moved to a new, tough city, lost the major-label record deal they had moved there with, and were in the midst of reinventing both their band and their sound, while sleeping on friends' couches. Their well-received debut EP, 2007's The Thief & the Heartbreaker, was a modest, folk-minded, acoustic-based disc that garnered glowing reviews.

But, for Stakee and Wolfers, it was a baby step. Broken Side of Time, meanwhile, is a giant stride ahead, one that marks the band's official introduction to America. Grand in volume and vast in vision, it's an inspired set of electric songs that finds the intersection of The Verve, My Morning Jacket and Neil Young (with or without Crazy Horse). Recorded in Austin, produced by the band with Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Dead Confederate, Heartless Bastards) and mixed by John O'Mahoney (Depeche Mode, Coldplay, Kasabian) at Electric Lady Studios, the album melds propulsive, throbbing bass lines and crashing waves of guitar to a haunting, impassioned voice that can sound ancient and Appalachian. ...show less