Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine

Rarely are there records that are exactly what you expect them to be, yet leave you feeling amazed. Delta Spirit's Ode To Sunshine is one. My introduction to Delta Spirit was one of excitement and anticipation. I had heard rumblings of their amazing live performance from friends lucky enough to see them at SXSW or in other cities and waited restlessly for their show in New Orleans. To hold myself over till the show, I grabbed onto whatever tracks I could online and fell in love with the rotation of three to four songs. The show did not disappoint as the band delivered an energy that moved the room. Statements such as "I feel like I just went to church" and "I have balls now, and I am a girl. That just made me a man" were heard in the crowd after the show. I bought the album and took it home.

Every song grabs you. This is music that lives inside of you. With a healthy dose of Americana mixed to perfection with the gritty raw rock that sounds like the illegitimate love child of The Walkmen and the lead singer of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Ode To Sunshine resonates with a listener. It is something familiar, yet at the same time quite different, and most importantly epic.

Of the eleven tracks on the album, the ones that stand out are Trashcan, House Built For Two and People C'Mon. Trashcan comes in with a simple beat that draws the listener in and builds upon simple verses. All of which is done to lead to the explosive yet, short chorus that screams out "My Love is coming, I can barely hardly wait…around." While Trashcan is all about moment, House Built For Two, one of the few ballads on the album, travels like a journey on an old rusty bike with a slipping chain. The verses coast through with a simple rhythm. The chorus comes in and peddles a little harder, but slows back to the cruising level. The moment of freedom, where the listener takes their feet off the peddles and coasts down the hill, comes in the bridge with the simple chorus, "Nah, Nah Nah…" People C'Mon is definitely the thickest song on the album, and the clearest anthem of the album. Grooving bass lines, drum beats and in your face vocals create a robust composition that delivers. As the singer's raw voice belts out the line "If feeling what I am feeling come on, all you soul searching people come on," it grabs a hold of your tongue for days on end, leaving you with nothing to do but sing alone. So people - come on.