PORTLAND’S lovely The Delines have a first full album in three years coming to us in February, in which they cross country to the Gulf Coast, from there to bring you 11 beautifully wrought tales of lives lived, unremarkable and yet also wholly remarkable, all couched in empathetic retro-soul, lush horns and strings.
The album’s called The Sea Drift, and we’ve already found our collective critics’ heart pumping over the first single, “Little Earl”, the tale of two brothers fleeing a convenience store after a shoplifting caper gone wrong, one bleeding in the backseat: it’s Breeze D’J Pancake or Denis Johnson made music.
Today they’ve dropped another video, this time for the twilit romance of “Past The Shadows”, a place to disappear into, as Amy Boone sings, yearning for a getaway, “when the lights stream down like crystals.”
“This is one of the earliest songs I wrote for the [album] session,” says guitarist Willy Vlautin. “I was thinking about that self-destructive dream of never having to live like anyone else, of not having to be a part of regular society. That pull of living like a vampire, the romance of it, the freedom of it, but also the darkness of it and the unattainability of it.
“We wanted the song to be a seduction itself, easy and catchy, warm and velvety; but underneath is a world of scars and failure.
“Amy’s voice really draws you in and Cory’s string and horn arrangement creates the sonic world that I always pictured was New Orleans, where in the heat of the day you sleep and hide and recover and it’s only after sundown that the pull of the night life calls you out again.”
Of the album’s genesis he reveals: “The idea for the The Sea Drift began with Amy and my mutual love of Tony Joe White. We used to have conversations about his records and she’d always joke, ‘Just write me ‘Rainy Night in Georgia.’ Jesus, what a tall order, but I guess in my own way I started trying.” ,
An exclusive edition of The Sea Drift will be available via Rough Trade shops with a bonus five-track extra CD and gatefold-sleeved, coloured vinyl.
In addition to the band’s London show at the Union Chapel in February they will play the next day at Rough Trade East store with signed editions of the record; that’s been added to their 2022 itinerary, which is as follows:
Wednesday, February 9th, Cork, Live At St Luke’s;
Thursday, February 10th, Belfast, First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street;
Friday, February 11th, Kilkenny, Set Theatre;
Saturday, February 12th, Dublin, Liberty Hall Theatre;
Sunday, February 13th, Bury, The Met;
Monday, February 14th, Bristol, The Fleece;
Tuesday, February 15th, Pocklington, Arts Centre;
Wednesday, February 16th, Newcastle, Gosforth Civic Theatre;
Thursday, February 17th, Glasgow, Saint Luke’s;
Friday, February 18th, Nottingham, Metronome;
Saturday, February 19th, London, Islington, Union Chapel;
Sunday, February 20th, London, Shoreditch Rough Trade East;
Monday, February 21st, Brussels, AB Club;
Tuesday, February 22nd, Wageningen, Netherlands, Theater Junushoff;
Wednesday, February 23rd, Utrecht, Netherlands, TivoliVredenburgh;
Thursday, February 24th, Groningen, Netherlands, De Oosterpoort;
Friday, February 25th, Eeklo, Belgium, N9;
Tuesday, April 19th, Oslo, Askerkulturhus;
Wednesday, April 20th, Stockholm, venue tbc;
Thursday, April 21st, Goteborg, Pustervik;
Wednesday, April 22nd, Malmö, venue tbc;
Thursday, April 23rd, Odense, Denmark, Dexter;
Friday, April 24th, Copenhagen, Stairway;
Saturday, April 25th, Hamburg, Nochtspiecher;
Sunday, April 26th, Oberhausen, Germany, Zentrum Altenberg;
Monday, April 27th, Hamont-Achel, Belgium, aha!;
Tuesday, April 28th, Venlo, Netherlands, Grenswerk and
Wednesday, April 29th, Amsterdam, Paradiso Noord.
The Delines’ The Sea Drift will be released digitally, on CD and on vinyl by Decor Records on February 11th, and is already available to pre-order now over at Bandcamp.
Connect with The Delines elsewhere online at their website and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
