Dirty Linen (p.57) - "In all, MOONSWEPT is more than a collection of songs, a rambling mood that captures life -- theirs and ours."
The Roches (Folk): Suzzy (guitars); Maggie, Terre (bass guitar).
Personnel: The Roches (vocals); Lucy Wainwright Roche (vocals); Garry Dial (piano); Stewart Lerman (bass guitar).
Recording information: The Shinebox, New York, New York (2007).
On their first album as a trio in over a decade, the Roches show that they've lost none of the vocal magic that has made them one of the most beloved folk-pop acts of all time. Indeed, MOONSWEPT is so much of a piece with previous Roches classics that it's hard to imagine that Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy ever went away.
As always, the trio handle almost all of the writing themselves, with occasional help from family and friends like Suzzy's daughter, Lucy Wainwright, and the quirky comedy-folk singer Paranoid Larry, who wrote and sings on two songs, "Jesus Shaves" and "No Shoes." Also as always, the sisters' personal musical styles--from Suzzy's more rock-influenced tunes to Terre's purer folk and Maggie's lyrical oddities--mesh awkwardly but fascinatingly, in a manner that is at the root of the Roches' otherwise difficult-to-describe sound.