Record Label:
Carnival Recording Co.
Bucket, the second album by former Houstonian Mando Saenz, is a calculated construction: “Pocket of Red” is the lush pacesetter; “Pittsburgh” and “Seven Dollars” are the forces propelling the record’s mid-section into the tension-building “I Don’t Like It” and “Come Out Tonight.” “Candy Red” is the climax, and the proverbial come-down is the “Last Goodbye.” The playing leaves little to be desired, with the likes of David Grissom and Chris Carmichael, not to mention the muscled-up production of R.S. Field. In hands less competent than Field’s, Bucket could’ve been left tugging at the side of the mainstream that grasps for the country in Ryan Adams’ catalog. As it stands, the album is slick without pandering, powerful without overwhelming and mature without any crippling sense of self.
