The Wide Is Pretty Limited

It can be argued that the first track of any record is the most important; it sets the tone and tells the listener what to expect. From the opening track of the Brooklyn-by-the-way-of-Orange-County band, Delta Spirit’s new album, Into the Wide, it is clear that they have forsaken their guitar driven pop for more expansive soundscapes.

This isn’t always successful, especially in the first half of the record. There, they drown lead singer, Matt Vasquez’s vocals in effectives that recall sixties psychedelia. This would be a perfectly fine effect to use if he was singing about spiders from mars, but he’s not. Vasquez and the band decided to sing about the most human of things: the connection—or lack thereof—between people. The effects on the vocals make him seem far away, both physically and emotionally. Similarly, the synths that permeate throughout the record make it feel computerized when it should feel like it’s coming from the nature, a place of primal fear for the dehumanization of the masses. It feels like there is a disconnect between the style of music being played and the message that they want to portray.

For example, in “From Now On,” he swears that “from now on I’m gonna be your friend.” And yet, the effects that cover his voice let none of the passion and the rasp that is usually there shine through. So, how could you possibly believe him? Likewise, for an album that has a positive spin—with lines like, “may love never break you” and “I told myself I’d never lift a hand in hatred”—this album is their least pop and is calling out for good hooks. There are choruses, but a chorus is lines that are repeated within a song; a hook, on the other hand, is something catchy that is created through tension, melody and lyrics.

A prime example of a chorus that is not a hook comes in the song, “Live On,” where the space between the verse and the chorus is too short and melody is flat and uninspiring, when the lyrics are clearly supposed to be.

The record picks up, however, with the title track. They finally get the tension that a great pop song needs with the use of sparse vocal harmony that lead up to a soaring chorus. The songs that follow are much better too, including the two best songs—with the best melodies—on the record “The Language of the Dead,” where he muses about the Greek heroes and “For my Enemy,” in which he contemplates the latent angry inside of him.

It’s not that the record is bad, it’s just been done. You’ve heard it with better melodies and with more impassioned singing. The truth is, going into the wide with Delta Spirit sounds pretty limited.