Recent Additions : The Delines : Colfax

I had been meaning to check out The Delines' Colfax since it was released last year but it was always hard to find.  I finally found a CD of it that was not prohibitively priced on my last trip to Christchurch.  I was not disappointed, other than I had waited to long to hear it.

The Delines are the next installment in the artistic development of Willy Vlautin. I first became aware of Vlautin and his music with the track Calm on the Loose Records Collection New Sounds of the Old West.  However I did not  really become enthralled by his muse and music until the much trumpeted album Post to Wire, by his original band Richmond Fontaine.

Vlautin and Richmond Fontaine's albums are like mini-plays - his lyrics achieve a balance of personal, evocative and cinematic all at the same time. At the same time he was producing a series of great albums he also started a career as a novelist and has since written 4 novels that explore the dark side of life and are populated by losers, murderers and gamblers.

In 2014 this album appeared on the scene, familiar sounding characters and themes but presented with Amy Boone presenting more soulful vocals than  Vlautin's rasp.  The result is nothing short of stunning. One of the best "total albums" I have heard in a long time. This live radio/tv session gives some idea of the power and depth of the album.  A favourite track already is The Oil Rigs at Night.