The Deslondes – Roll It Out (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:19 minutes | 930 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records, LLC
The Deslondes are a five-piece group of dudes from New Orleans. The band splits up songwriting and lead vocal duties among its five members, continuing its democratic ethos and musical versatility. Multiple members have released solo recordings between their sophomore release, Hurry Home (2016) and their previous release Ways & Means (2022). Now, with their latest record, Roll It Out the band continues to build on their inventive take on New Orleans country and R&B. Roll It Out finds the band leaning on the country-folk of their debut along with the sometimes-psychedelic, electrified gospel-soul sound of their previous records The sound will continue to draw comparisons to the country-funkiness of The Band, Link Wray, and others but Roll It Out is the sound of a band that understands the history of American music, while embracing their own contemporary approach.Losing a drummer can be catastrophic. Despite a long history of jokes at their expense, drummers are often the glue that holds a band together. Just ask Led Zeppelin. But for The Deslondes, a country band whose horizons have been expanded by living and working in New Orleans, losing drummer/singer Cameron Snyder was not fatal. That’s because all five members, including new drummer Howe Pearson, are serious songwriters jockeying for a spot on the band’s recordings and onstage.
On their fourth album, everyone chips in with quality material. Incorporating what they call an “anything-goes philosophy,” the band lists George Jones and Allen Toussaint as influences as well as “hobo folk,” “Third Ward jazz” and “crust punk.” Covering all those bases is a challenge the Deslondes seem bound and determined to conquer. Despite that formidable goal, the sound of singer/guitarist Sam Doores, singer/guitarist Riley Downing, bassist Dan Cutler, guitar/fiddle/pedal steel player John James Tourville, and Pearson is decidedly laid back. The ambience of an old-fashioned guitar pull pervades Roll It Out as the members trade tunes. Opener “Hold On Liza,” written and sung by big and deep-voiced Downing, is a countrified singalong, perfect for a campfire and half empty bottle of bourbon. A wavering, tremolo guitar line is at the center of Doores’ “Take Me Back.” Pearson adds his voice to the basic but likable, “I’ll Do It”; classic country oozes from Downing’s bass on “Grand Junction.”
Returning to the Bomb Shelter studio in Nashville where they’ve recorded all their albums with producer Andrija Tokic, the sound is sharp and well-detailed. Artistic growth can be heard on Cutler’s “Find the Ground” where organ and pedal steel combine in a delicate ballad. “Old Plank Road” leans rockabilly while Pearson scores one of the album’s semantic triumphs when on the bluesy “Go Out Tonight” he asks, “There’s nothing wrong with staying home/ There’s nothing wrong with being alone/ So why am I turning out the light/Why am I going out tonight?” Finally, hometown funk infuses “Mercury on Parade.” The Deslondes strive and mostly succeed at being all things Americana. – Robert Baird
Tracklist:
1-1. The Deslondes – Hold On Liza (04:04)
1-2. The Deslondes – Take Me Back (02:39)
1-3. The Deslondes – Lies I’ve Told (03:11)
1-4. The Deslondes – I’ll Do It (03:05)
1-5. The Deslondes – Grand Junction (03:52)
1-6. The Deslondes – Find The Ground (02:57)
1-7. The Deslondes – Pour Another Round (03:21)
1-8. The Deslondes – Old Plank Road (02:30)
1-9. The Deslondes – Who Really Loses (03:47)
1-10. The Deslondes – Go Out Tonight (02:42)
1-11. The Deslondes – Mercury On Parade (03:39)
1-12. The Deslondes – Line To Go (03:50)
1-13. The Deslondes – Drifter’s Wife (03:38)
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