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Kat: In a really bad summer of music, there were a few bright spots. Take Augustana. Everything's that missing in Coldplay's Viva La Vida can be found on Agustana's Can't Love, Can't Hurt. Is it art?

It's not anything you'd want to hang on a wall but do most things on your wall get your heart pumping and your ass shaking?

Augustana's "Boston" (heavily featured in Scrubs) put them on the radar but it's the live shows that are putting them on the map.

Can't Love, Can't Hurt is so far beyond 2005's All the Stars and Boulevards that it frequently doesn't even sound like the same group. Seeing them live will only confuse you further. I caught the band live this spring when they were early into their tour and again later this summer when they were a support act. If there's a better arena and shed band to emerge this year, I've missed out. Live the new songs are a little rougher and a lot more thumpin'. So much so that I'm expecting the next album to be another huge leap for the band.

This growth may make listening to the latest CD a disappointment if you catch them live first; however, Can't Love, Can't Hurt provides you with "Hey Now" and "Sweet and Low." The first is a rocker (or sounds like it until you hear them perform it live -- again, they're reworking the album on the road). It's also a song lyrically that clues you in: "Chris Martin has entered his Rod Stewart phase but we're making music."

They certainly are. "Sweet and Low" is probably the best written, best performed and best produced track on the CD. "Sweet and Low" is the song that everyone's going to be cited as their favorite song when the next CD carries Augustana to the top ranks. It's got everything a classic rock song needs, the vocal aching with lust, the chords that fire up just when they're needed. Look for millions of women (and probably a a number of men) to claim two or so years from now, "Oh, yeah, Augustana? Back in 2008, I was like 'hold me down'? Oh, yeah, Dan Layus, I'll hold you down all right!"

Anywhere you go, anyone you meet
Remember that your eyes, can be your enemies
I said, hell is so Close, and heaven's out of reach
But i ain't givin' up quite yet
I've got too much to lose
Hold me down, sweet and low, little girl
Hold me down, sweet and low, and I'll carry you home
Hold me down, sweet and low, little girl
Hold me down and I'll carry you home

The rain is gonna fall
The sun is gonna shine
The wind is gonna blow
The water's gonna rise
She said, when that day comes,
Look into my eyes, no one's givin' up quite yet, we've go too much to lose
Hold me down, sweet and low, little girl
Hold me down, sweet and low, and I'll carry you home
Hold me down, sweet and low, little girl
Hold me down and I'll carry you
All the way

"Carry me all the way," Layus sings in that song and the energy completely carries it and the CD. On the slow-tempo "Fire," energy is really all that the band has going for it and they put it across.

If you haven't caught the band live, you'll love Can't Love, Can't Hurt. If you've caught them live, you know they've already moved beyond it. In which case, I suggest you skip the regular version of Can't Love, Can't Hurt and instead purchase the deluxe version which includes four additional tracks -- two are videos. "Hey Now" and "Sweet and Low" acoustic are more than enough, even after sweating through one of their high intensity performances, to get you excited all over again.

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Kat's Korner: Hold Me Down