"It's like Paul Simon plays Phish!" Mad-Sweet Pangs has upheld an intensive focus on well-crafted songs, high-energy live performances, and a loving, good-time rapport with the vibrant and diverse Delaware music scene in which they are an essential and cherished component. With a contemporary improvisational sound steeped in folk tradition, yet alive with progressive energy, their performances have been described as "tightly composed, ragtime-upbeat, energetic, and intimate." Each member of the quartet keeps a "push-our-collective-envelope" musical approach to their free-form improvisations, which shines through both onstage and in the studio. As such, Mad-Sweet Pangs is the organic bi-product of four friends, their love of music, and the desire to craft songs that capture the sweetness and bitterness of life.
"For the Ride," the band’s third full-length studio album, features the myriad of stylistic influences the band’s members bring to the gumbo that is Mad-Sweet Pangs. From the modern-folk roots exhibited on the enchanting “700 Volts of Blues,” and the acoustic pastiche of “The Gold Rush,” to the incendiary “Late Worm,” the textural diversity of the Pangs’ ethos is clear. The album was released to an enthusiastic crowd of over six hundred people on April 22, 2011 at World Café Live in Wilmington, DE.
