Cartel, ‘Lessons in Love’ – Song Review

Pop rockers Cartel are back with another poppin' single and a teaching plan in 'Lessons in Love.'

"Well I would love to make you mine / But that’s not the sign you’re giving me / Go ahead, count me confused," frontman Will Pugh sings in the lead verse, expressing his frustration at being another girl's learned mistake.

'Lessons in Love' is one to get your blood pumpin' ... Just in time for Saturday night. But what's especially cool about Cartel's latest song is that the band is dropping the EP that houses it completely on their own.

"Back in April the boys and I found ourselves in Anaheim preparing for a few shows in the SoCal area. At that time, it was a fairly tumultuous period for Cartel. We were out of a label. No tours on the horizon and no real direction for the future of the band. It was this day that we sat in the hotel bar enjoying lunch and a few adult beverages that we commenced the new phase of ourselves," Will wrote to fans a few weeks back.

He continued, "We decided at that crucial juncture to put our heads down and work on songs that would become the EP that we're now finishing up. We committed ourselves to doing this OUR way." That means, in simple terms, that Cartel will rock their forthcoming EP without the help of labels and producers. "No peanut gallery. Just us. Just you. So we holed up for a few days and recorded 'Lessons in Love' with the hopes that it would be the catalyst for greater things to come," Will said.

The band promises one thing about their future: "We're just 4 dudes who like playing music together and want to share that experience with the fans that we've come to know and love over the last 7 years or so. So what you're going to get is just us. Just Cartel doing what we love to do."

A band that truly loves their fans and appreciates giving the world great music? That certainly sits well with us -- and how refreshing! 'Lessons in Love' is absolutely the jump-start that Cartel will need to pummel their way through the mess of the music universe and into what it's supposed to be about ... good, fun music. Now there's a lesson that everyone should learn.

Listen to Cartel, 'Lessons in Love'