Album Spotlight: LoCash, ‘The Fighters’

Few albums reflect an artist’s identity quite like LoCash’s The Fighters, an 11-song project heavy with love songs, underdog stories and left of center arrangements.

Chris Lucas and Preston Brust lean into their over-the-top tendencies and score wins with their Top 5 single “I Love This Life” and “Ring On Every Finger.” The latter is the best song on The Fighters. It’s quite literally about going above and beyond what’s necessary to prove one’s love.

“I’ll put a ring on every finger, just to show you I’m legit / Go and try my last name on, just to see if it fits,” they sing. Surprising melodic lines complement a simply brilliant chorus. Five years ago this song would have been way ahead of its time, but in 2016 … well, it still may be, but country is catching up.

An absence of melody and perhaps an over-saturation of love songs early makes “Shipwrecked” and “Moon Walkin” somewhat forgettable, but the album picks up again quickly with two songs sure to energize their live show. “Drunk Drunk” is a beach-y love song with copious amounts of rum. “All Day” is another party lover — both are delivered in such a lighthearted way that one instinctively trusts their intentions.

There’s not much variety in subject matter on The Fighters, but LoCash never sound less than sincere. Brust is recently married and a new father, while Lucas has long been the duo’s quiet romantic. “God Loves Me More” is dripping authenticity. An apologetic gratitude drives this ballad. “Just look at the hell I’ve put you through / God loves me more than he loves you,” they sing.

The title track closes the album, and while Brust sings of working class heroes, he may as well be singing about he and Lucas. The two men have fought for their success as much as any artist in recent history. This Bruce Springsteen-inspired anthem is a fitting close for an album over a decade in the making.

Key Tracks: “Ring On Every Finger,” “I Love This Life,” “God Loves Me More,” “The Fighters”

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