The clue’s in the title, of course. The raggedly glorious DEER TICK hail from Providence, Rhode Island and this is their third LP. In all honesty, it doesn’t sound like it was a ‘difficult’ third LP at all, in fact it sounds like it was an utter blast to make and when the analyzin’s all done and dusted it’s one that’s gonna stay on yer stereo for months to come.
So what’s the deal with this baby? Well, unlike the two previous DT albums – ‘War Elephant’ (2007) and 2009’s ‘Born on Flag Day’ – it’s got a lot less in common with folk/ roots. It’s loud, sprawling, never more than a fingertip away from alcoholic abandon and pulls off that greatest of all rock’n’roll tricks: feeling like it could collapse in on itself at any time yet still sounding like the most thrilling thing you’ll hear all year.
There’s no knocking and politely waiting for entry here. The bar-room brawling ‘The Bump’ busts the door right off its hinges, with craggy frontman John McCauley spouting all kinds of gnarly wisdom (“I got a lust for life and a dangerous mind”) before he gets away with a whistling solo fergawdsakes. The chaotic, but exciting ‘Funny Word’ follows through in style, while the mental ‘Let’s All Go to the Bar’ (“I don’t care if there’s a hurricane/ let’s all go to the bar!”) comes on like ‘Let It Be’-era Replacements jamming on Jonathan Richman’s ‘Roadrunner’ after ten crates of Snakebite. That’s a compliment, incidentally.
There’s plenty more in that vein. Both ‘Main Street’ and the supercharged ‘Something to Brag About’ (“Johnny’s got a bottle o’ wine...nobody’s gonna make it to work on time!”) also mainline on Replacements-style sloppy brilliance, while the sarkily defiant ‘Walking Out The Door’ is supported by some cool, Steve Nieve-ish organ playing from Rob Cowell. But there’s also a darkly fascinating, melancholic side to McCauley’s song-writing, as evinced by the jealousy dripping from ‘Make Believe’ (“I saw him touching you the way lovers do/ but now that won’t happen again”) or the eerily sparse late night ballad ‘Electric.’
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Such is the quality on display here that ‘Divine Providence’ becomes one of those all-too -rare listening experiences where simply choosing stand-out tracks becomes the main preoccupation. It’s a tough ask, though ultimately it’s either the slow’n’creepy surreality of ‘Chevy Express’ (rather like a second cousin of Wilco’s ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’) or the heart-meltingly lovely closing track ‘Miss K’ (“talk dirty, turn me on, let’s get goin’!”) which are most deserving of the silverware.
‘Divine Providence’, then, is one of those wonderful bar-raisers that every seriously cool band with one eye on longevity needs at a crucial time. Its title may suggest an act of God, but its knowingly earthy songs are full of that special kinda soul that only a great, intuition-stuffed rock’n’roll record can provide.
Loose Music online
Deer Tick Online
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