Deer Tick
Emotional Contracts
ATO
If your band plays party music with a Southern drawl, and they bring in a piano player for a rollicking number, they must give them a chance to do that thing where they hit a bunch of high keys in a rapid trill in the middle of their solo. It’s the law. And Deer Tick are nothing but law-abiding citizens on their most recent release, Emotional Contracts.
This is not to imply that everything is straight-ahead and predictable, but rather that the band is true to a particular lineage of American rock and roll that takes the expected four-person voice/guitars/bass/drums lineup and delivers the sort of performance that makes you wish the bar would stay open and Deer Tick would embark on a fourth set.
Emotional Contracts, the newest album in a catalog spanning nearly two decades, covers a variety of moods and energy levels, from the langorous “Running From Love” to the sauntering “If I Try To Leave,” which comes straight out of the dirty south songbook and features the aforementioned piano warble, but doesn’t quite get into running speed. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on your expectations.
Combine this with sparkling production from Dave Fridmann and assistance from Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin (whose touch is most keenly heard on “Disgrace”), and this is a record that stands outside of time, wringing new life out of one of the longest-running genres.
