Delta Spirit - History From Below
The disparity of vibe within tracks on the same album is so severe that it feels like you’re riding treacherous waves.
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In these days of artists being dismissed quickly after lacklustre, unpopular debut albums, bands have so much to prove and so much more to lose when recording follow-up albums. After the critical acclaim of 2008’s ‘Ode to Sunshine’, there really wasn’t anything for Delta Spirit to do except attempt to continue on an upwards trajectory with album #2. Mix the country rock sensibility of the Eagles with the Allman Brothers’ blue-eyed Southern style soul rock and throw some religious imagery in there, and you’ve got a fair idea of what the Delta Spirit sound like. The band’s second album, ‘History from Below’, is a study of contrasts.
There is a definite Willie Nelson vibe to frontman Matt Vasquez’s warbly, nasally vocals; this is fine if you’re a country music fan but this album may grate if you aren’t. Definitely an acquired taste. Upon first listen, the more upbeat numbers like ‘911’ and ‘Golden State’ shine, the guitars and drumming coming alive in tandem with the joyous backing vocals. ‘Bushwick Blues’, the first single to be released from this full-length, is a textbook example of how to write an engaging single –layered guitars at a bouncy tempo with frenetic lyrics. It’s primed and ready to be a summer single.
Unfortunately, the high doesn’t continue. Songs like ‘Scarecrow,’ ‘Vivian’ and ‘St. Francis’ sit uncomfortably in sharp contrast to the aforementioned sunnier tracks; these are sentimental tunes sung by and sung to drunk cowboys, sounding like they belong in some tavern in tumbleweed country. The disparity of vibe within tracks on the same album is so severe that it feels like you’re riding treacherous waves, and depending on what your ears are in the mood for, this ride might give you motion sickness.
‘White Table’ is the wild card of the bunch, sounding more psychedelic than country, with expansive vocals and driving drum beats. The track that immediately follows, ‘Ransom Man’, has a steady hum of instrumentation along with Vasquez’s sultry words until very oddly the very end, when an ethereal buildup of strings and vocalising cuts in, then cuts out harshly to Vasquez’s voice again. Vasquez has stated this second Delta Spirit album is '...a record that sums up our 3 years of growing up'. Judging from the sound of 'History from Below', it's been a couple difficult and rocky years on the road.
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