Richmond Fontaine bring their latest classic album, for they know no other way, to the restaurant at White Trash tonight.
The High Country is a novel of sorts set to music and follows the fortunes and misfortunes of a logging community in Oregon. As author of three novels, Willy Vlautin has perhaps been building up to this most adventurous of albums and is possibly the only songwriter in modern american rock music who could pull it off. Songs like the harrowing opener Inventory(A Confession At Arlene’s Paperback Exchange), Let Me Dream Of The High Country and The Mechanic’s Life (It Ain’t Always Wrong To Give Up And Run) are portrayals of a brutal existence accompanied by heartwrenchingly gorgeous tunes plucked and gently strummed on electric guitars, while On A Spree, The Chainsaw Sea and The Escape are muscular alt-country rockers propelled by Vlautin’s narrative, purposeful drumming and twangy, americana guitar playing.
It’ll be interesting to see how the burger eaters react to these tales of woe…
Here’s the album for ya, enjoy:
Formed in 1994 and named after an American expat who helped bassist Dave Harding when his car was stuck in the desert in Baja Mexico, Portland-based Richmond Fontaine stand for more than a decade of alternative country and folk inspired rock, paired with the peerless storytelling of lead singer and songwriter Willy Vlautin. Gaining attention not only in the USA, but also abroad, the band toured the UK and Europe and received positive record reviews by magazines like the influential Uncut. In their latest, tenth studio album, THE HIGH COUNTRY. Vlautin has written a spectacularly unique, genre-bending album. More than a concept record, THE HIGH COUNTRY could read as a song-novel: a fully realized, novel-sized story set to music. From stark, romantic ballads and dialogue sequences to raw Northwest garage rock and cinematic songscapes, the album shows Richmond Fontaine’s musical trajectory culminating far beyond their cowpunk roots. Vlautin, who has also written three critically lauded novels, The Motel Life, Northline and Lean on Pete, one of them (The Motel Life) even being turned into a motion picture scheduled for 2012, created a gothic love story of light vs. dark. Besides Richmond Fontaine members Sean Oldham, Willy Vlautin, Dan Eccles and Dave Harding, as well as Fontaine regulars Paul Brainard, Ralph Huntley and Collin Oldham, the band is also joined by The Damnations’ Deborah Kelly, who is lead vocalist on four songs. Responsible for the atmospherical mood and sonic depth of the record is producer and film scorer John Askew, who has worked with bands like The Dodos and Karl Blau.
