J Mascis' involvement in Sweet Apple might be the main draw for most, but it's also somewhat misleading. Like the other Tee Pee Records band in which Mascis is involved (sludge merchants Witch), his role here is strictly supporting. Sweet Apple's main man is instead John Petkovic, a Cleveland-area musician with his own three-decade career, in two respected yet unheralded bands (Death of Samantha and Cobra Verde).
After the passing of his mother, Petkovic drove from Cleveland to Vermont to visit Mascis and bassist Dave Sweetapple, which lead to him writing the 70s arena rock-like songs that would end up on Love & Desperation. There's a cathartic who-gives-a-shit vibe to the entire enterprise, which is great when Sweet Apple stumble upon something worth giving a shit about. A few songs (the glammed-up barnburner "Hold Me, I'm Dying"; grungy behemoth "Never Came") manage to successfully turn that trick. A Casio-abetted ballad like "Dead Moon" falls a little short of that mark, but it's a welcome digression. On much of the album, Petkovic unfortunately goes against his strengths as a songwriter, trying to strike a irony-free bad-to-the-bone rock-god pose that neither his voice nor words can back up.
He comes up with a few killer lines-- "I wasn't born, I was detached"-- and doesn't come up short as a singer for lack of trying (though his howling on "It's Over Now" comes close). However, all the not-so-tough talk about vampires and dead bodies and bad-ass chicks loses its luster after the third or fourth go-around. Coupling these clichés with sky-high guitar heroics doesn't help matters (though the faux-epic "Blindfold" manages to sidestep that pothole with a truly epic guitar solo). At their best, Sweet Apple sound like they're trying to emulate the lovable-loserdom perfected by one of Petkovic's unsung Cleveland rock peers, Prisonshake. At their worst, such as "Goodnight", Petkovic goes on and on about him and his hard-luck honey while the group tediously grinds away in the background. It's a sour note to hit, especially on such a haphazard journey. From the sounds of things (both in the press materials, and, intermittently, in some of the songs), the journey that lead Petkovic to make this album was one he needed to take. Here's hoping that whatever road lead Petkovic to Love & Desperation ultimately gets him back to doing what he does best.
