Mark Bennett
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — When Cuba leader Jon DaCosta calls the band’s latest album “our most diverse,” he’s right.
The Terre Haute alt-rockers display versatility and experimentation on the 11-song collection called “The Contrast.” The title fits. DaCosta (lead vocals and guitar), Jimmy Rinehart (lead guitar), John Murray (lead guitar), Michael Coffey (percussion) and Matt Hulett (bass) offer a taste of several genres, track by track.
They twang on the country-tinged “Haircuts and Breakups.” There’s a hint of Duane Eddy on “Train Wreck.” “Steelworker’s Wife” blends the contrasts, all in one tune, plucking a stark Neil Young intro before shifting into a pop power-chord crunch at the heart of the song about a drifting housewife. “Answer Machines” is a percolating, smooth R&B guitar strut.
One common denominator in the songwriting, primarily by DaCosta, is the sadness and discomfort in the lyrics. “This Long Year” describes a family’s hard year, touched by disease, divorce, surgery and a flood. There’s relationship disconnection in the bleak “Steelworker’s Wife.” And the album’s finale, “Panic In Your Eyes,” delves into pressures of life with straight-up rock force.
Following up on previous albums “Sounds Like a Story” and “Epilogue,” DaCosta and the band have hit their songwriting and musical stride with likewise independently-released “The Contrast.” With a recording session planned this year at SonyTree Studios in Nashville, their stock is rising.
