This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Well, you can’t accuse them of false advertising.
Love & Distortion, the sophomore album from co-ed San Francisco dream-popsters The Stratford 4, does indeed provide a nicely balanced menu of fuzz-box power and swirling romanticism. But there’s a little more to it than that. With nods to everyone from Spiritualized to My Bloody Valentine to Mogwai to The Velvet Underground to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Stratford singer Chris Streng’s previous bandmates — these 10 spacious tracks often spread their wings and take flight, soaring away into epic journeys like the eight-minute Telephone or gently drifting along on the waves of the nine-minute Swim Into It. There aren’t many bands that can have their heads in the clouds, their feet on the ground and their eyes on their shoes at the same time, but on Love & Distortion, Stratford 4 make that — and anything these — seem possible.
