Monday, April 4, 2011

The Deloreans - American Craze (2011)

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I was introduced to The Deloreans by Sam at MiddleClassWhiteNoise when he played "Dear" for me and 3 other eager listeners in a listening room/chat. I was immediately struck by it's epic grandeur and dreamy American sound that reminded me a bit of Aaron Copland and so the search for the album began - made easier by a link being provided.

Album opener "Gatsby" with its swells and vocal bravado establishes the album as one of substance and sets the semi-thematic ode to times gone by. For all the nuanced ideas on American Craze, "Leviathan" is markedly different - a grandstanding guitar showpiece with about two short verses.

American Craze does an amazing job of channeling bygone era music in a way that's no mere replication. The arrangements are positively out of this world, probably due to bandleader Jeremy Perry's experience studying classical music and offers a smattering of various periods in American music (like surf pop in "Girl From the Country"). A bigger feat is how the band is able to navigate from the subtlety of "Gatsby" to the over-the-top ball-to-the-wall nature of "Leviathan", "Landslide", and "Non", back to something way more restrained (at least initially) for "Dear". I'm still surprised by this fact, actually. It's a formula that shouldn't work and yet The Deloreans managed to do to remarkable effect.

You can listen to the album on their BandCamp:

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