| Death Songs — Sung Inside A House (2013) |
Death Songs — Sung Inside A House
Location: Portland, Oregon
Album release: February 26, 2013
Record Label: Post-Consumer Records
Duration: 38:58
Tracks:
01. Overdose (4:34)
02. New Son (2:31)
03. Naturally (3:19)
04. Giving (3:14)
05. Lonely Lady (4:17)
06. Visions (2:19)
07. Morning Light (2:59)
08. In The Night (One Day) (3:32)
09. Passing Through (4:15)
10. Wounds (4:53)
11. Void (3:05)
Members:
• Nicholas Dellfs
• Justin Power
• Ali Clarys
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/deathsongs
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/deathsongs
• Encore un bon groupe de la scene indie de Portland! Tres sympa, a découvrir.
• Sung Inside a House feels like coming home. Death Songs’ first full-length album, soon to be released on Post-Consumer Records, embodies all the warmth, intimacy, and yes, turmoil of falling in love and raising a family. Songwriter/musician Nicholas Delffs draws on rich American musical traditions such as soul, gospel, country and roots, with touchstones that include Wilco, mid-period Los Lobos, Vic Chesnutt, Van Morrison and the Band, to bring a distinct tuneful clarity to songs that often deal with confusion, loss, and hope. Delffs, new father, resident of Portland, OR, and a veteran of the Shaky Hands, possesses that rarest of gifts, the ability to temper optimism with experience, yearning with realistic expectations. His songs are sincere without being naive, spiritual but grounded.
• “New Son,” an invigorating, jaunty romp, celebrates the responsibilities of fatherhood, the anticipation to be with family, and what that means within the context of finding one’s way as an artist. An aching brass salvo reminiscent of Otis Redding’s work with the Memphis Horns opens ‘Giving,’ which tells of a one-sided romance doomed by another’s apathy and indifference with remarkable precision and an economy of words. But the heart of Sung Inside a House beats loudest from “In the Night (One Day),” “Passing Through,” (written by Richard Blakeslee - CD only), and “Wounds,” a trio of songs about different levels of acceptance. “In the Night,” in particular, is a stunning evocation of an uncertain future, internal quandaries, and the hardships present in any relationship, be it with son, wife, God, or self.
• Death Songs’ Sung Inside a House is conflicted, searching, sincere and, ultimately, life-affirming. With his uncommon generosity of spirit, his intrepid honesty in the face of unanswerable questions, Nicholas Delffs has proven himself in every way to be a superlative, mature artist. But, as it says in the song, “does time really heal all wounds?” Sung Inside a House goes a long way towards trying.
Credits:
• John Gnorski played guitar, pedal steel and sang background vocals
• Sara Berger played saxophones on "Giving"
• Alden Doyle played violin on "Giving" and "Visions"
• Nikolas Bouklas played saxophone on "Void"
• Nicholas Gus Delffs did everything else
• Recorded by Nicholas Taplin
• Mastered by Roger Seibel
• Sequenced by Stereophonic Mastering
Executive Producer: Nicholas Taplin
Fortaken: http://postconsumer.bigcartel.com
REVIEW
• October 17th, 2012 ROBERT HAM |
• The Shaky Hands were never known for dynamism. The band’s four albums had a strangely flat quality that Nick Delffs and company only ever surmounted when playing live. But hearing the new full-length from Delffs’ Death Songs has me hopeful for the Shaky Hands’ potential future.
• That is to say, from the sounds of Sung Inside a House, Delffs has finally managed to bring the frolicsome nature of his live work into the studio. In doing so, he’s managed to inject this 11-song collection with generous amounts of soul.
• That “soul” takes on different connotations throughout this fine album. There’s the influence of actual soul music that seeps through “Giving,” a slow-burning, horn-accented waltz. Opening track “Overdose” and the band’s version of Dick Blakeslee’s anthemic “Passing Through” follow suit, bursting out of the speakers like a Motown 45. • The other side of the soul coin is the mood that pervades Delffs’ vocals, and the instrumental performances from him and his bandmates. Even in the form of a piano ballad or jumpy folk-pop, Sung is imbued with a spirit that can be joyful or ruminative, and occasionally—as with the loving ode to his “New Son”—a delightful combination of the two.
| Death Songs — Sung Inside A House (2013) |
Death Songs — Sung Inside A House
Location: Portland, Oregon
Album release: February 26, 2013
Record Label: Post-Consumer Records
Duration: 38:58
Tracks:
01. Overdose (4:34)
02. New Son (2:31)
03. Naturally (3:19)
04. Giving (3:14)
05. Lonely Lady (4:17)
06. Visions (2:19)
07. Morning Light (2:59)
08. In The Night (One Day) (3:32)
09. Passing Through (4:15)
10. Wounds (4:53)
11. Void (3:05)
Members:
• Nicholas Dellfs
• Justin Power
• Ali Clarys
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/deathsongs
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/deathsongs
• Encore un bon groupe de la scene indie de Portland! Tres sympa, a découvrir.
• Sung Inside a House feels like coming home. Death Songs’ first full-length album, soon to be released on Post-Consumer Records, embodies all the warmth, intimacy, and yes, turmoil of falling in love and raising a family. Songwriter/musician Nicholas Delffs draws on rich American musical traditions such as soul, gospel, country and roots, with touchstones that include Wilco, mid-period Los Lobos, Vic Chesnutt, Van Morrison and the Band, to bring a distinct tuneful clarity to songs that often deal with confusion, loss, and hope. Delffs, new father, resident of Portland, OR, and a veteran of the Shaky Hands, possesses that rarest of gifts, the ability to temper optimism with experience, yearning with realistic expectations. His songs are sincere without being naive, spiritual but grounded.
• “New Son,” an invigorating, jaunty romp, celebrates the responsibilities of fatherhood, the anticipation to be with family, and what that means within the context of finding one’s way as an artist. An aching brass salvo reminiscent of Otis Redding’s work with the Memphis Horns opens ‘Giving,’ which tells of a one-sided romance doomed by another’s apathy and indifference with remarkable precision and an economy of words. But the heart of Sung Inside a House beats loudest from “In the Night (One Day),” “Passing Through,” (written by Richard Blakeslee - CD only), and “Wounds,” a trio of songs about different levels of acceptance. “In the Night,” in particular, is a stunning evocation of an uncertain future, internal quandaries, and the hardships present in any relationship, be it with son, wife, God, or self.
• Death Songs’ Sung Inside a House is conflicted, searching, sincere and, ultimately, life-affirming. With his uncommon generosity of spirit, his intrepid honesty in the face of unanswerable questions, Nicholas Delffs has proven himself in every way to be a superlative, mature artist. But, as it says in the song, “does time really heal all wounds?” Sung Inside a House goes a long way towards trying.
Credits:
• John Gnorski played guitar, pedal steel and sang background vocals
• Sara Berger played saxophones on "Giving"
• Alden Doyle played violin on "Giving" and "Visions"
• Nikolas Bouklas played saxophone on "Void"
• Nicholas Gus Delffs did everything else
• Recorded by Nicholas Taplin
• Mastered by Roger Seibel
• Sequenced by Stereophonic Mastering
Executive Producer: Nicholas Taplin
Fortaken: http://postconsumer.bigcartel.com
REVIEW
• October 17th, 2012 ROBERT HAM |
• The Shaky Hands were never known for dynamism. The band’s four albums had a strangely flat quality that Nick Delffs and company only ever surmounted when playing live. But hearing the new full-length from Delffs’ Death Songs has me hopeful for the Shaky Hands’ potential future.
• That is to say, from the sounds of Sung Inside a House, Delffs has finally managed to bring the frolicsome nature of his live work into the studio. In doing so, he’s managed to inject this 11-song collection with generous amounts of soul.
• That “soul” takes on different connotations throughout this fine album. There’s the influence of actual soul music that seeps through “Giving,” a slow-burning, horn-accented waltz. Opening track “Overdose” and the band’s version of Dick Blakeslee’s anthemic “Passing Through” follow suit, bursting out of the speakers like a Motown 45. • The other side of the soul coin is the mood that pervades Delffs’ vocals, and the instrumental performances from him and his bandmates. Even in the form of a piano ballad or jumpy folk-pop, Sung is imbued with a spirit that can be joyful or ruminative, and occasionally—as with the loving ode to his “New Son”—a delightful combination of the two.