Love Story in Blood Red

LOVE STORY IN BLOOD RED, the stripped-down project of former Means front man Jason Frederick, is one of the best bands in Chicago right now. If Jonathan Richman had continued to milk the Velvets-inflected world-weariness of the Modern Lovers’ debut instead of putting his heart on his sleeve, he might have come up with something like the pair of self-titled albums this band has put out. But Frederick’s writing is its own beast: he’s bitter in a literary and passionate way, and his vocals are stretched across a framework of spindly but grand and gritty rock. --Monica Kendrick (December 7, 2006 issue of the Chicago Reader)