Review: Deer Tick, More Fuel for the Fire

Deer Tick’s More Fuel for the Fire EP plays as a crash course in modern Southern-rock revisionism.

Deer Tick, More Fuel for the FireA short, muscular burst of energy, Deer Tick’s More Fuel for the Fire EP plays as a crash course in modern Southern-rock revisionism. There are four songs here, each of them sampling a style of old-school rock and country collusion and placing them in an up-to-date, skillful pastiche that never feels like outright pantomime. “La La La” inhabits the pose of the laidback, no-problems drinking song, humming with an ascendant slide guitar that sounds made for a barroom jukebox, and adding some honky-tonk piano for good measure. “Dance of Love” keeps things moving, utilizing a familiar rollicking drum-roll beat that never feels worn out, hopping from one charging guitar solo to the next. “Axe Is Forever” is a boozy, croaky-voiced romp, putting its feet up noisily and taking off its boots, keeping up a louche energy while trailing off into contrived raggedness. Finally, “Straight Into a Storm” captures the sound of the band’s live show—messy with a charmingly frayed sense of play. It all adds up to a nicely calculated effort: all the good-time country hallmarks with none of the tears or strife—one that, at 11 minutes, proves an effective primer that leaves you wanting just a little bit more.

Score: 
 Label: Partisan  Release Date: December 1, 2009

Jesse Cataldo

Jesse Cataldo hails from Brooklyn, where he spends his time writing all kinds of things, preparing elaborate sandwiches, and hopelessly trying to whittle down his Netflix queue.

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