Delta Spirit - Into the Wide

Earlier this week I felt the urge to give this another shot and contribute a new review to the good ole’ Sub-Mariner, I knew I wanted to write about Delta Spirit’s new album Into The Wide, but I had no idea where to start. So as I rode the bus back and forth from campus this week I contemplated how to tackle this ever so scary task. Did I want to attempt a Peter style thought provoking, Goshen college-esque, review? Or did I want to try the Kane White poetic and professional review of an album? Why not both?

The question I pondered this week, while squeezed in my seat on an overly full bus of college kids, was what do I want from a new album? Am I looking for something bigger and better? Something completely different than their previous albums? Or just more of the same? Eventually I decided that I just don’t have a good answer. The logical side of my brain wants to see improvement from album to album. After all it just makes sense, the band was had more time to play together, write music together, and generally improve on their musical sound. It should show growth as a band, show growth as musicians. But to me, just an average joe schmo music listener, this didn't feel like the right answer to me. I don’t have any technical musical training, I can’t tell you what chords a guitarist is playing or what notes a vocalist is hitting, I just know what sounds good to me and what doesn't.

So that left me with, in my mind, two possible extremes of what I wanted from a new album. Either more of the same, or something completely different. So I went through the album collection of Delta Spirit, one of my favorite bands, in an attempt to see what makes them so likable to me album after album. I quickly realized I was being far too drastic by thinking of something different and more of the same as polar opposites. What I want is both, is that too much to ask? I don’t want another repeat of the same old sound that was in a previous, but at the same time I don’t want my favorite indie rock band to turn into a death metal band. I want a band to hold on to that “thing” that makes them who they are, while creating a new, fresh sound. To me Delta Spirit does just that. They stay true to their roots, but every new album comes with a unique sound and feeling.

Into The Wide is Delta Spirits fourth album and was just released in September of this year. This time they are back with a new feel, a more moody, “dark” (for lack of a better word) sound. With a mix of stadium rock anthems, slow ballads, and everything in between. This is who Delta Spirit is. They create music that makes you feel, and Into The Wide is no exception. Yet despite the moody sound of the music, Matt Vasquez's ever so strong voice raises through with the positivity in the lyrics that is all so familiar. The songs speak of love “The Wreck”, friendship “From Now On”, never giving up hope “Take Shelter”, and of course the token anti-war song “War Machine”. To me this is the “thing” that makes Delta Spirit so good. Each album has a distinct sound; the folksy feel in Ode to Sunshine, the loud and proud self-titled album Delta Spirit, and now the darker sound in Into The Wide. But through all the different sounds, they remain true to their hearts and consistently deliver; keeping that “thing” in their sound that makes them Delta Spirit.