Love songs abound on 2003's Red Devil Dawn, but most of the love is dead or dying or at least dirty. That makes sense: Just a few years after his split with indie stalwarts Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann had forcefully forged a new identity and sound with Crooked Fingers, and he quickly amassed a catalog of gorgeous, poetic songs about weary losers and broken lives. This is the album that gave their desperation it's most pointed, perfectly detailed homes. Big Darkness, Don't Say a Word, You Can Never Leave, Bad Man Coming, You Threw a Spark, Boy with (100) Hands, Sweet Marie, Angelina, Disappear, Carrion Doves
