Since starting out in 2004, Deer Tick have been firmly locked into the country-rock box, their gorgeous, soulful alt-country making Bright Eyes fans everywhere swoon.
But with this latest album they’ve smashed down the sides of that box and gone on a delirious trolley-dash through the rock‘n’roll hall of fame, throwing in vintage blues, ragtime piano, the strut of the Rolling Stones, the Faces’ horndog panting and, on Let’s All Go To The Bar, the brilliantly dumb gonzo punk rock of the Ramones at their least intellectual. And that’s all just in the first three tracks.
Elsewhere they bounce from 50s girl-pop drums to Chuck Berry’s rock‘n’roll, Springsteen’s blue-collar, dead-end romanticism to No It’s Your Turn, a shameless power ballad out to rival Man Or Muppet (2012’s power ballad of the year, by a long chalk). And somehow they even find time to return to their own original sound, amping up the wonky charm to dangerous levels.
Divine Providence is an album bursting with joy, with a pure and infectious love of 50 years of rock history, tied up with a cheerfully old-school production that makes it all the more inviting. If this doesn’t cheer you right up, you’re in trouble.
