Touching on their roots

While it is a fairly well known fact that rock and roll was spawned from a combination of country and blues, these two genres seem only distant relatives of modern rock for many of today's listeners.

On their debut album, "Dark Snack," The Moaners do their best to reconcile rock and roll with its forgotten roots, creating a sound that is likely be greatly appreciated by fans from any generation.

The Moaners, an all-female outfit based in North Carolina, consists of only two members, lead vocalist/guitarist Melissa Swingle and drummer/vocalist Laura King. Fans shouldn't let the alt-country label that is often applied to this band mislead them. With a sound much more akin to early Nirvana than that of Wilco, the emphasis should definitely be placed on the term alternative rather than country.

While a Southern drawl can definitely be detected in Swingle's guttural crooning and though the album is predominantly filled with tragic "down and out" love songs, this is the extent of the country influence on "Dark Snack."

The highlight of the album comes on "Paradise Club," a modern rendition of The Animals' classic track "The House of the Rising Sun," in which the lyrics are changed to refer to a southern strip club.

In "Terrier," another standout, Swingle delivers an upbeat, distinctly feminist tune in which she unfavorably likens a man to a small dog, sneering, "You ain't no Great Dane."

On another track, "Elizabeth Cotton's Song," The Moaners pay tribute to female blues great Elizabeth Cotton, an artist who no doubt had an enormous influence on their style, both musically and lyrically.

While "Dark Snack" is for the most part an impressive album, it is not without its problems. At time its lyrics seem oversimplified and are not as poetically compelling as they could be. Similarly, The Moaners' minimalist sound grows slightly tiresome as the album plays. While they maintain a high emotional level, they could stand to throw in a few more stylistic variations.

"Dark Snack," however, is an album worth listening to, especially for those who wish to hear modern rock and roll return to its roots, or rockers with a guilty pleasure for a country western twinge.