Luther Russell

Luther Russell: Medium Cool

by Doug Collette
March 9, 2019

The photo of Luther Russell wearing shades inside this digipak perfectly captures the attitude of this album's title, albeit with slightly self-effacing charm. But the music resounds even deeper in that regard. Russell's longstanding independence is the source of the infectious immediacy in his rock, and his do-it-yourself approach to making records creates loose, scrappy power pop that channels the Rolling Stones in the same way that Matthew Sweet's heavier and more formally constructed music echoes the Beatles.