DELTA SPIRIT „Delta Spirit”

DELTA SPIRIT „Delta Spirit”
VÖ: 08.02.2013 – Label: Rounder Vertrieb: Universal Music
Lange hat es gedauert bis das dritte Album von Delta Spirit den Weg nach Deutschland gefunden hat,
nun erscheint am 8. Februar 2013 das selbstbetitelte Werk auch endlich hierzulande.
Im Gegensatz zu den beiden Vorgängeralben „Ode To Sunshine“ und „History From Below“
verabschiedet sich die Band dieses Mal aus der Americana/Folk-Ecke, in der sich die Band selbst eh
weniger als die Presse gesehen hat. Vielmehr soll das neue Album die moderne Rockband
repräsentieren, die sie auf der Bühne schon lange Zeit sind.
Frontmann Matt Vasquez dazu: „Wir haben endlich unseren Sound gefunden, den wir gesucht haben
und zu dem wir uns über die Jahre hinentwickelt haben – deshalb ist das Album auch selbstbetitelt, es
spiegelt unsere Identität wieder und ist das, was wir denken was Delta Spirit auszeichnet. Menschen
machen Alben für ihre Zeit und wir wollten ein Album für unsere Zeit machen, so wie Autoren einen
großen amerikanischen Roman schreiben wollen, wollten wir ein großes amerikanisches Album
schreiben. Keines über die Vergangenheit, sondern eines über das Jetzt.“
Produziert von Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio, Beach House, etc) gibt es mehr
Experimente denn je, Soundschichten und Samples und auch der neue Gitarrist Will McLaren wurde
dazu ermuntert, noch mehr seinen eigenen Stil einzubringen.
Aufgenommen wurde das Album in Dreamland, einer 1896 erbauten Kirche in Woodstock, NY, die zu
einem Studio umgebaut wurde. Die Platte soll vor allem die ungezügelte Liveperformance und Energie
der Band einfangen.
Musikalisch verließ man die Pfade der üblichen Songstrukturen und Normen und die erste Single
„California“ kommt sogar ganz ohne Refrain aus. Der Opener „Empty House“ dient dabei am ehesten
als Übergang von den alten zu den neuen Delta Spirit.
Aber keine Angst, auch für die Folk- und Americana-Liebhaber gibt es noch genug auf dem neuen
Album zu entdecken.
Live konnte die Band bereits beim Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, SXSW und bei diversen
Tourneen überzeugen, bis jetzt leider hauptsächlich im nordamerikanischen Raum, um so mehr hoffen
wir auf Konzerttermine in Deutschland im nächsten Jahr.
(ausführliche Bio in Englisch auf der Rückseite)
Alle Anfragen (Interviews, etc.) und zwecks Pressematerial etc an
Oliver Bergmann [email protected]
Tel: ++49.(0)40.59464256
Oktober Promotion; Neuer Kamp 25; 20359 Hamburg
www.deltaspirit.net
When it came time to record Delta Spirit’s third album, the band members knew one thing: It was
time to shake off the stylistic labels that have shadowed them since they formed in San Diego, CA, in
2005. Though lyricists Matt Vasquez and Kelly Winrich were grateful for the warm reviews that their
previous albums Ode To Sunshine (2008) and History From Below (2010) received, they were
perplexed at being called “rootsy Americana” or “twangy folk.” In their eyes, Delta Spirit has always
been a thoroughly modern rock band, and, with their self-titled new album, they set out to prove it.
We found the sound that we've been looking for, that we've been growing into, and as soon as we hit
on it, we ran with it,” Vasquez says. “That’s why it’s a self-titled record, so we could connect our
identity with the album, because this album is what we think Delta Spirit is. People make records for
their time and we wanted to make one for our time. Just like novelists want to write the Great
American Novel, we wanted to make a Great American Record. Not one about yesterday, but one
about right now.”
To help them realize their vision, Delta Spirit recruited producer Chris Coady, not only for his indierock credentials (he’s worked with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Beach House, and Smith
Westerns, among others), but also because, with five strongly opinionated band members, Delta Spirit
needed a producer who wouldn’t be pushed around easily. “We also wanted a great engineer and
someone who knew how to make sounds that didn’t sound stock and average,” Vasquez says of
Coady, who brought in a home-built synthesizer, which was used on the song “Home.”
The band also experimented sonically, creating layers of texture by using previously verboten
instruments like MPC samples and drum machines. They also empowered their new guitarist, Will
McLaren, to create stand-alone parts, and to go to town on electric instruments. The experimentation
can be heard throughout the album, which opens with the rollicking opening number “Empty House,”
and serves as a transition between Delta Spirit’s previous sound and its new one. “The intention was
to introduce the album with something that hints at what we used to sound like,” Winrich says. “We
wanted to ease people into it.” The band, who recorded the album at Dreamland — a converted
church built in 1896 in Woodstock, New York — also upended traditional song structures, playing
around with writing songs with no choruses (“California”) and generally throwing off simple versechorus-bridge conventions, making sure each verse felt different from the one that preceded it.
When it came to lyrical content, Vasquez and Winrich stuck to what they knew. “We’re not hearkening
back to anything in the lyrics,” Vasquez says. “We’re writing about situations that are mostly personal.
I think the topic of love has affected us the most.” The most direct approach comes from Winrich. “My
songs all seem to pertain to one situation, a failed relationship,” he says. “‘Anyone who’s been in a
long-distance situation will be able to relate to ‘California.’ ‘Otherside’ is about being delusional and
holding onto something that may or may not be real, and ‘Time Bomb’ is about being blind to what
the future holds and how happiness and sadness are kind of intertwined.”
Several (though not all) of Vasquez’s songs tend to make their points through the perspective of
others, a style favored by some of his favorite songwriters, including Tom Waits and Nick Cave. On
“Empty House,” he takes on the persona of a construction worker who is seeing the Dharma in his
work. “This guy is mixing concrete and suddenly notices the tiny glinting specks in it,” Vasquez
explains. “He begins to wonder ‘What got me here? Where am I headed?’ and relating that little speck
to his life.” “Tellin’ The Mind” is about Colton Harris Moore, the teenager known as the Barefoot Bandit
who became an internet sensation after committing several burglaries, and stealing and crashing a
plane. “I loved him,” Vasquez says. “I thought he deserved an anthem.” “Tear It Up” was originally
inspired by the events in Egypt during the Arab spring, but morphed into a more universal song about
what can happen with people get together with a common goal. Vasquez’s most personal song is
“Yamaha,” which he wrote for his wife when she grew upset about his being away on tour for long
stretches of time. “I felt like shit but I couldn’t do anything. A guy’s first instinct is to fix it, but you
can’t when you’re three time zones away, so I wrote this song for her.”
The album’s raucous energy and no-holds barred performances will appeal to Delta Spirit’s fanbase,
which has grown consistently thanks to their explosive live shows. The band, who have completed
headlining tours of the U.S. and Europe and appeared at SXSW, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and
Coachella, are looking forward to hitting the road and playing the new songs. “There’s no other
experience on earth like playing music with people and feeling that kinetic energy,” Vasquez says. “I
want to do it even when I’m old and it’s ridiculous to see me on stage. If I can hold on to even a
tenth of the feeling we have when we’re playing, I’ll be happy.”
www.deltaspirit.net