Folk, garage-i-fied
The Long Beach-based Americana rockers from Delta Spirit got our attention with their trash-can-banger of a debut, Ode to Sunshine. Now, they’re back with their sophomore effort, History From Below. This new album finds the band doing their distorted garage folk (complete with another fortuitous dose of Matt Vasquez’s sweet, throaty vocals) on tracks like “White Table,” and “St. Francis.” But this time around, they’ve added a dash of arena-rock a la Bono or The Boss with tracks like “Bushwick Blues,” and “Devil Knows You’re Dead.” Both styles suit the band, but they’re at their best when ripping through their own gritty takes on folk rock. History’s top moments include the raw, rousing choral solo mid-way through “Ransom Man,” the unedited background noise in “Scarecrow” and the lyrics to “Vivian.”