Delta Spirit: Ode To Sunshine

As the story goes, Delta Spirit's Matt Vasquez was

first discovered by his bandmates at a San Diego light-rail station, busking

furiously to a spare late-night crowd. The gravel-throated singer wasn't exactly

hard up at the time—he was taking a break from his parents' beachy O.C.

digs—but that shouldn't count against him or his band. It actually goes a

long way toward explaining Delta's unhinged, free-flowing, bluesy spirit. Ode

To Sunshine

is brimming with gritty, staggering soul that floods the gap between the

Stones' R&B-inflected; early oeuvre and Cold War Kids' world-weary keening.

That said, Ode

is impressively measured, and neither the rollicking shambolics of "Trashcan"

nor the slow, whiskey-seeping grind of "Parade" would be half as effective

without a certain tautness. Texture is paramount too, as the shimmering banjo

of "People, Turn Around" and the unfussy horns on "Bleeding Bells" attest. It

all gives Vasquez's voice a wide berth as it oscillates between Jeremy

Enigk-worthy highs and quavering Marc Bolan-esque lows, expounding on some

heavy themes (drug abuse, sexual slavery, Vasquez's mother deserting her

family) with surprising lightness. In "People C'Mon," Vasquez bids his "soul-searchin'

people" to join him in whatever quest brought him to that train station in the

first place. If his goal is to coax the sun out by song, he should have no

shortage of voices backing him.