deer tick – easy

you know what this place needs? a good old fashioned rock song. and i think “easy” by deer tick fits the bill. deer tick hails from the great state of rhode island, and might be the first band ive ever heard of from rhode island. i seem to remember hearing somewhere that singer john mccauley is cousins with the perpetually shirtless matthew mcconaughey. thats my best attempt at the spelling and im not even gonna try to spell it correctly. but it would be funny if that were true because ole matty seems like he wants to be a rock star, not content with being a famous actor heartthrob that all of us men are constantly judged against (much to our chagrin). kind of like how we are all supposed to be like vampires now.

but i digress. deer tick has the rare honor of being one of the few bands ive posted about that has just about zero electronic elements (thats right nick, it can be done). while their style is definitely more along the lines of folk/country/alt-country (see friday xiii, which features a modern day johnny cash/june carter style duet), todays track is by far the least folky song on the album. its a great case of tension and release. the opening verse is dark and minor, but as soon as the chorus hits its like a wave of resolution. the gruff and harsh voice of mccauley is pretty much perfect for this song, especially during the excellent harmonies of the second verse when he sings “she got me flyin like a wild man/in the middle of the night”. i read an article that pretty much perfectly described the bands sound. its a little bit rock, a little bit folk and a little bit country-western and while it doesnt really mirror the sounds of hank williams or willie nelson, its definitely got the same feeling and authenticity.

deer tick – easy

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