The mass depression that glows beneath the green star of capitalism has bred many strange things. Out of the wilderness of north Alabama come THE PINE HILL HAINTS.

A ragged collection of junk musicians and travelers, the Haints have journeyed to hold Midnight Opries across the basements of Babylon for over a decade.

Here with "To Win or To Lose", their second long player on K Records, the topics move further into the forest shadows, with tales of modern America and the ghosts of its past.

Although THE PINE HILL HAINTS are great fans of soft pop music, and suburban American bedroom sleepover parties, the topics presented on "To Win or To Lose" instead reflect the new age of darkness that has recently hit the global mass market; the ancient idea of the Great Hunt, the hounds and the horn of impending doom; this record has fast songs about living and self-destruction, songs of natural disaster, public domain dance music, and tales of friends, brothers and sisters who walk the streets, sleep in the dumpsters or backseats of cars, or jump trains.

A Valentine croon and a roaring train wreck. Recorded at the Black Owl Trading Co in Florence, Alabama, "To Win or To Lose" is the sound of the dead forever and the coming new age made by the children of this Great Hunt.

"[This] defiantly Alabamian punk/rockabilly troupe who used to practice in a graveyard .

have stumbled on a winning formula: choppy, rhythm-centric odes to Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins .

and distinguish [themselves] with deft arrangements and an old-hound's sense of restraint." - Pitchfork