Little Legend :: "Saints"

Born under a cloud of Marlboro Red smoke and into a land of American-style lagers, Little Legend, a band from Madison, Wisconsin, unleash their debut single, "Saints", a mixture of early Cold War-era rock and big college radio hooks. Singer, Brandy Tudor reflects on this brand of fatalism in the first lyrics, "I was born with a fire in my head", before slamming drums and chunky guitars flesh out an architecture somewhere a bit grungier than Deer Tick and Dawes. Tudor later redirects this cross of birth as, "I was born a losing kind," one of those blue-collar lyrics that doesn't feel a bit dishonest when paired with a chorus about death, dying and divinity. It is as promising a rock song from a debut EP (self-titled, to be released April 24) as any you will hear this year. A final barking conclusion, colliding guitars and booming tams, forecasts an expanding funnel of choices for this young band: pastoral, familiar, and not a bit fatal.