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Delta Spirit: Delta Spirit

Rounder

Following in the oft-derided footsteps of peers Kings of Leon and Cold War Kids, San Diego quintet Delta Spirit embrace their glossiest arena-rock dreams on their third full-length. Veteran indie-rock producer Chris Coady tucks away the band’s folky side—without any acoustic guitars or brushed drum kits. On the devastating album closer “Yamaha,” vocalist Matthew Vasquez crafts layers of interweaving cries over simmering synths and a delayed guitar so tender that it could be played by ghost fingers. Meanwhile, “California” sounds like the old Delta Spirit drifting in slow-motion underwater: This is clearly the same band that suffered, a couple years back, from those gnarly “Bushwick Blues.” (Dig those close-knit vocal harmonies and tight, dynamic instrumental interplay.) But Delta Spirit have never sounded this much like a studio band—tom-toms thudding softly, backing vocals rising in oceanic mists, squiggly synthesizers nuzzling up next to six-string squalls. But it ain’t all impressionism and star-gazing: The surging rocker “Tellin’ the Mind” is built on scorching guitar leads and what sounds like a drunken bird call. “Money Saves” is a windows-down journey through ‘80s Heartland hooks that you’ll swear you’ve
heard before (and quite possibly have). Settling into rock maturity rarely sounds this cathartic.