Devil's Road

Deluxe re-issue of Seattle band's 1996 release: All things Tindersticks, Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, The Triffids, Anita Lane, Mazzy Star, Tarnation. Female vocals often front this glorius melding of all things rootsy, cinematic, dark, western. The stuff of David Lynch and Tarantino have wet dreams of. Carla Torgerson (vocalist) did a duet (Traveling Light) with the Tindersticks. Use of string arrangements, vibes/tubular bells, pedal steel, acoustic guitars places this in the hallowed halls containing all the aforementioned bands. Disc 2 is special heretofore unreleased tracks: They are demos, a live track, plus versions without string arrangements (giving them rawer, more rock and roll feel, which I, myself, prefer).

CD1:
1) (5:29) fem vocs, pretty, epic with string arrangements
2)* (4:51) darker toned, but brightens up with strings
3) (3:25) strummy driving with hammond organ, male vocals bring to mind a Triffids/Cave storytelling ballad
4) (5:09) male vocs, big dark with piano, epic balladeering
5) (5:22) slow mindful, female vocs, piano and strings dominate the drama
6) (5:06) male vocs, bigger sound, almost rockin
7)* (5:36) dramatic with tubular bells, dark, fem vocs
8) (4:17) upbeat, fem vocs
9)* (4:36) starts with carnival sounds, male vocs to this upbeat rocker
10) (6:06) slow waltz dark ballad, fem vocs with vibes
11)* (7:23) pedal steel gives this a slight alt.western flare, piano, male/fem duet, male fronted, balladeering, nice

CD2:
1) (3:46) devils road demo version, male vocs, rocking
2)* (5:54) version of first track without strings, I prefer this sparser less dramatic version
3)* (5:14) stringless version of track 5 above, fem vocs, i like this one
4) (6:06) string-free track 10 above, nice, rather Tarnation'esque
5) (3:50) live, rockin, organ upbeat, male vocs