Former Sony Music artist Ana Cristina Cash is leaping into the country music scene with her new EP, The Tough Love EP. Produced by and written in part with her husband John Carter Cash, this preview of her upcoming full length debut country record is soulful, gritty, and tough, like the title indicates. Her vocals are stellar, the lyrics tell interesting stories, and the sound is a marriage of classic and new, soul and country. Here's the breakdown, track-by-track.
"Tough Love Woman": Of all of the songs on this EP, "Tough Love Woman" is the best at describing Cash as a woman and as a musician. She's tough, and she don't take no sh*t, and this song is perfect at describing that. While this EP is more traditional country than many, the soul influence is clearly there. Some doo-wop vibes and more classic soul and gospel sounds can also be heard on this track.
"Southern Roots": This track is swampy, country and highlights Cash's lower register. It's a song about domestic abuse in the south, which Cash says she has never experienced herself, but it's an important song as it brings attention to something that happens everywhere but people don't raise enough awareness about. The little Miranda Lambert edge comes in when the woman in her song murders her husband, bringing in a little of female country tradition.
"The Cost of Love": Throwback about fifty years, and this song would be right at home on the radio. A clever mix of old school country, soul and pop, "The Cost of Love" questions the legitimacy of a man's love. Like the previous two tracks, Cash tends to stay in her lower register, adding a sultry, and almost sinister sound to the record.
"Busted": Cash plays on the idea of love being all anyone ever needs with the line, "Even if we've got nothing / rich in love, that's good enough for me." Even on a happier love song, Cash continues to inch a little darkness into there, with the idea that they're not doing so well. but they have each other so it's okay. For some artists, this continued darker sound would seem like it's repetitive, but Cash's addicting vocals and interesting style make it worth it.
"Seminole Wind": The only track on the EP that Cash did not write, this song is a cover of the classic John Anderson song. Her reinterpretation fits in with the style of the EP while at the same time adding a different perspective on Cash's talent. She sings a little more in her upper register and experiments with some interesting sounds on this track, showing her versatility as an artist.
"Move Along Baby": The record closes with a bluesy country track about catching a man in the act of cheating, and telling him to just leave and move along. The production allows for empty space which Cash fills up with her full, throaty voice to end the EP on an upbeat note.
Purchase the EP here.
Purchase the EP here.
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