Wild Sweet Orange´s Canvasback Music debut, "We Have Cause To Be Uneasy," is a work of exquisite power, its songs propelled by edgy emotion and a cathartic yearning for connection. Tracks such as "Ten Dead Dogs" and "Sour Milk" find the Birmingham, Alabama-based rock outfit honing an intimate and individualistic sound that veers unrestrained from aching intimacy to a turbulent, seething intensity. For singer and songwriter Preston Lovinggood, the album´s provocative title serves as both an ideal statement of intent as well as a strong assertion of identity.

"It´s being honest about who we are and where we´ve come from," Lovinggood explains. "Our generation gets a little looked down upon for asking too many questions or complaining too much, but I think we have the right to ask those questions.

"It´s hopeful and weary at the same time," he adds. "To be aware of the situation, to understand there is a cause, is a healthy place to be."

Recorded over a span of two years, from the band´s first serious sessions in Birmingham with engineer Lynn Bridges to its more recent work in Austin alongside producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Patty Griffin), WE HAVE CAUSE TO BE UNEASY stands as a remarkably truthful debut album, the unveiling of a band and its efforts since the start.

"The story of the record is the story of Wild Sweet Orange," Lovinggood says. "It was a humbling and sometimes tiresome experience, like, ‘Oh man, are we ever gonna get this record out?´ But we also knew that these songs were good enough and if we worked hard enough, they´d take us to where we wanted to be."

The Wild Sweet Orange story officially began in the suburban community of Homewood, where Lovinggood and drummer Chip Kilpatrick met attending church choir practice and, as Lovinggood recalls, "became instant best friends." The two began making music together, with Kilpatrick - who´d been playing guitar and drums since he was extremely young - teaching young Lovinggood to play "a bass that was as big as me." When guitarist Garret Kelly moved to town, he quickly became the third member of the fledgling group and rounded out the lineup and upon graduation, the band - dubbed Old American Dream - decided to skip college to follow the career path they´d set out on years before.

Old American Dream toured the country for the next year, but Lovinggood found himself conflicted, keenly aware of the disparity between his adolescent fantasies and the reality of life on the road. He decided to head back home to attend community college, but ultimately, Lovinggood couldn´t resist music´s thrall and began unleashing his dreams and demons into what would become Wild Sweet Orange´s first songs.

Lovinggood showed his embryonic songwriting to longtime friend Taylor Shaw, a gifted blues guitarist known around town for backing up local blues veterans. Lovinggood and Shaw teamed up and were soon performing around Birmingham´s coffee house scene. Kilpatrick - by then living in Nashville - came home to join his friends, with Kelly rejoining the fold soon thereafter.