Diverse

This is out of print! Richmond Fontaine and Willy Vlautin's songs are not overly derivative in any way. It's all from the heart, whether it recalls the sound of Wilco, REM, John Prine, or a punk rock aesthetic. And the band is a group of superior craftsmen who take care in bringing these songs to life: Dan Eccles's twangy, vibrato laden telecaster backdrops; Vlautin's stellar acoustic guitar playing, at turns bruised and melancholy or propulsive and fiery; Dave Harding's rich and warm sounding bass; and Sean Oldham's seemingly endless creativity behind the drum kit providing the opening tune's 2/3 clave, straight ahead rock backbeats, tight snare rolls, and a whole lot of attitude when needed like on the punkish "43." Oldham apparently also plays the "radio trowel" on the recording: "The [radio trowel] uses a capacitive sensor array based on Max Mathew's radio baton... The trowel's movements control sound synthesis parameters..." And Sean's brother Collin, along with the cello on Freeway, also plays another electronic instrument he developed - the Cellomobo: "A computer music instrument that attempts to model the behavior of a bowed string. It gives haptic feedback to the bow at audio rate..." These guys don't lock themselves into any single musical box and the music benefits from the openness. The haunting singing saw melody that opens the record is a prime example.