HomeEF CountryThe Deslondes - 'Ways & Means' review

The Deslondes – ‘Ways & Means’ review

When Sam Doores of The Deslondes released his self-titled solo album 2018, it was compared to Los Lobos’ standout album ‘Kiko’. As I listen to the band’s third LP, ‘Ways & Means’ it strikes me that the East Los Angeles roots-rock legends are not a bad comparison for the New Orleans quintet. Both groups have a strong sense of place — East Los Angeles and New Orleans, respectively — and their music is grounded in early rock traditions with inflections of country and R&B layered over that. Both groups feature multiple vocalists with distinctive singing voices, adding variety to their songs, which always embrace a distinct sonic identity from their unique mix of cultural and genre influences. Each writes about the struggles of everyday people and the working class in a very real, very sincere way. The two bands are both on the prestigious independent label, New West, which has a particular niche in the Americana scene.

When Doores’s album appeared in 2018, The Deslondes were on hiatus. The band took a break after its second album, 2017’s ‘Hurry Home’. In 2021, they came back together to record, and the result is a very strong effort. In the spirit of New Orleans, it’s country-rock with a lot of funk. As the title implies, money matters and economics figure centrally into the songs on this album. It opens with the perhaps ironically titled ‘Good To Go’, a tale of a gambler who is a run of luck which is decidedly not very good. 

The album’s second song ‘Five Year Plan’ has a very different structure, with a few relatively long verses. Throughout the album, The Deslondes alternate these two modes of songwriting: numerous compact stanzas and fewer, longer ones. They appear to have deliberately structured the album to alternate the cuts so that the songs switch between these two modes of writing, which is a pro move. It may not jump at you if you don’t have access to the lyrics, but it has an effect on the listening experience. With 14 tracks and a relatively long run time, it behooves the artist to do what they can to keep thing freshs from track to track.

I’ve mentioned the band’s vocals before, and it’s worth mentioning again. If I’m going to listen to 14 tracks, it’s more interesting if I hear more voices on the leads.  Our attention span burns out when things are repetitive. Change and variety make it easier to maintain attention. One reason George R. R. Martin’s ‘Fire and Ice’ books are so successful is he loads them up with a cast of about a dozen point of view characters, and he cycles through through them so you never get tired, despite the fact they make the Old Testatment look succinct. When the track changes and I hear a different voice, it’s like the reset button in my brain clicks, and the band is getting a fresh slate. That may not be fair to all the solo artists who have to carry an album themselves, but I didn’t invent human psychology. Sorry.

In its embrace of American iconography, my comparison to Los Lobos is an apt one. ‘Wild Eden’ is a class song about the American West, full of American symbols. Though this band is most definitely a New Orleans band, when they sing about the “promised land” in ‘Howling At The Moon’ there’s a lot not just of Los Lobos, but of heartland rock in general. The sounds may not be especially close, but this is the blue-collar, biblically-influenced storytelling of Steve Earle and even Bruce Springsteen. They come closest to Earle in ‘South Dakota Wild One’, a tale of an outlaw with the soul of a poet.

Lyrically and sonically, ‘Ways & Means’ is the Deslondes’ strongest work to date.

Track list: 1. Good to Go 2. Ways & Means 3. Five Year Plan 4. South Dakota Wild One 5. Consider Me 6. Howl at the Moon 7. Home Again 8. Wild Eden 9. Standing Still 10. Dunes 11. Tomorrow Morning 12. Bound by Love 13. Sweet Release 14. Hero Record label: New West Records Release Date: July 8th Buy ‘Ways & Means’ now

[rwp-reviewer-rating-stars id=”0″]

Must Read

Advertisement