Sonic Union - CD

1.Little Girl Blue 04:46
2.The Destructor 04:34
3.Romulus And Remus 04:17
4.Thought I Was A Nice Guy (But I'm An Asshole) 01:37
5.Sonic Union 05:01
6.Manic Death 04:28
7.Passenger Ghost 03:12
8.Hexhausted 02:23
9.Unfortunate Few 04:05
10.Publicity 05:41
11.Trust Us 05:19

credits
released April 20, 2013

All songs by Cursed Arrows 2013 SOCAN
(except Trust Us by Don Van Vliet)

Jack E Stanley - Drums, Vocals, Guitar on tracks 5,6.
Ryan Stanley - Guitars, Vocals, Drums on track 5.

Recorded, produced and mixed by Cursed Arrows 2012.

Mastered in Toronto, ON by João Carvalho.

"Cursed Arrows deliver stories of warning, love, corruption and loss, among other things, over eleven tracks (45:28). Each track features a new character, telling a different story, from a different place. The liner notes with the download have a high resolution. I was able to read along with the record, something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I feel it keeps you attached to the music rather than being distracted by the rest of the world. Plus, I believe the sleeves, cases, liner notes, whatever you want to call them, are a visual extension of the album. So thanks for that Cursed Arrows. Sonic Union is heavy in blues. Heavy in noise and feedback and tone. Heavy in emotion. Heavy in soul. Not the Motown kind of soul. The, it’s from a special place, kind of soul. There are hints of Rock & Roll, Punk, Alternative, Grunge and Pop, but the album never commits to any of them. Sonic Union just dances around the fringes of said genres, staying true at the core, and commits to being a great Rock record. Cursed Arrows have created their most diverse offering to date with the marriage of so many styles. The name Sonic Union fits the album perfectly. Sonic Union and Cursed Arrows have me wishing all of my accidents could be this amazing."
~Music Lives (Canada)

"What makes Cursed Arrows interesting is the sense of inseparability of Ryan Stanley (guitar/vocals/drums) and Jack E Stanley (drums/vocals/guitar). Just as the band’s self-described instrumental order might show, they’re like two sides of the same coin, each contributing a piece of energy that isn’t complete without the other. Guitar/drum duos seem to make extra noise to compensate for the small array of instruments, and Cursed Arrows are no exception. But this album alters the formula somewhat with, among other things, Jack E’s bits of spoken-word which can be heard on a few songs amid manic guitar riffs and her own drumming. The band also varies the particular kind of rock they put out as they jump from song to song. Opener “Little Girl Blue” has an old-west feel with its stomp-and-clap rhythm and articulated guitar chords. “Romulus and Remus” on the other hand seems to have a bit of a blues influence behind it. While it may be called “Manic Death,” the song is just about the closest thing the band gets to writing a love song, of course expressed in their uniquely Cursed Arrows way. The band might be at its most all-out with “The Destructor.” There is no wasted time getting things as loud and heavy as they can be and features apocalyptic lyrics like “Fires are getting closer/The sun is boiling over.” Karl Marx would probably be pretty happy if he were alive today to hear “Unfortunate Few” with its lyrics about exploitation of the working class. And there’s definitely a bit of self-deprecation with the quick song “Thought I Was a Nice Guy (But I’m An Asshole).” The album ends on with “Trust Us,” a cover of a Captain Beefheart tune that manages to stay faithful to the original material while at the same time injecting Cursed Arrows’ sensibilities into it and cutting two minutes from the original song length.
Get into it. Rock out to it.
~Grayowl Point (Canada)

"Now here is something which sounds familiar but clearly is not. Rooted in the same sort of garage rock which spawned, yes the White Stripes and others such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Cursed Arrows nevertheless manage to offer up something different. Although the music drives, it is not as necessarily dependent on the sort of driving rhythm as, say those naughty rebels riding motorcycles, nor is there the overreliance on a melodic riff which often characterises the White Stripes. What the Cursed Arrows do is take the same sort of stripped down sound which so often forms a cliché as a lazy way of describing music, but then put it back together in a manner which is neither lazy nor clichéd. "The Destructor" is perhaps the classic exemplar of this. The melody is buried somewhat under distorted guitars and even more distorted vocals while the rhythm drives the song forward. The familiar elements are there, it is just that the Cursed Arrows put them together in a way you do not expected. That is not to say they subsume melodies altogether - "Romulus and Remus" clearly owes more to something like the Dirtbombs than to Titus Livius Patavinus (get that classical reference in there) but just when you were getting familiar with it, it slows down, cranks the echo up on the vocals and drifts into something which would not sound out of place with Hawkwind. What the Cursed Arrows have managed to do is infuse a familiar sound with a new life and a distinctive edge to it. Vocal duties are shared, not evenly perhaps, but both Ryan and Jack have distinctive voices which suit different segments of the music well. Jack Stanley shines particularly on "Manic Death" with a double vocal track. In truth, she has the stronger voice as a comparison with the subsequent track, "Passenger Ghost" will demonstrate. But never let it be said that there was any drawback in the vocal department. What the Cursed Arrows have managed to do is serve up something which should appeal to a wide audience. I suspect that the songs sound better live and that is clearly the route the band should take in promoting their development. But above all, if you are looking for White Stripes clones, don't look here. This is all of its own."
~Music Emissions (US)