Portland-based country-soul group The Delines have announced their third studio album ‘The Sea Drift’ which will be released on February 11th 2022 via décor records.
Portland-based country-soul group The Delines have announced their third studio album ‘The Sea Drift’ which will be released on February 11th 2022 via décor records.
Lyricist Willy Vlautin’s atmospheric storytelling unfolds across Amy Boone’s slow vocals and the band’s subtle flourishes.
“The idea for the THE SEA DRIFT began with my and Amy’s mutual love of Tony Joe White,” says Delines guitarist and songwriter Willy Vlautin. “We used to have conversations about his records and she’d always joke, ‘Just write me Rainy Night in Georgia.’ Jesus, what a tall order, but I guess in my own way I started trying.”
“Growing up,” adds singer Amy Boone, “two of my favorite songs on the radio were Brook Benton’s version of Rainy Night in Georgiaand Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe. I remember reading where Tony Joe said he was so influenced by the realness of Ode to Billie Joe that he set out to write a song that was real to him and that song turned out to be Rainy Night in Georgia. So when Willy said he wanted to use White’s song as an inspiration for the Delines’ next record, I was instantly hooked on the idea.”
With the seeds of THE SEA DRIFT planted, Vlautin and Boone began talking about the ideal setting for the songs – Texas, where Amy lived for years, and also the Gulf Coast, which they both love. Vlautin started writing songs set in that area and soon the band decided to create a whole record in that world, a record drifting up and down the Gulf Coast.
“Wonderfully immersive stuff… The Sea Drift has been honed to a fine shine musically and lyrically, with guitarist and feature-film-adapted novelist Willy Vlautin sketching the ultra-vivid character studies that Amy Boone inhabits.” MOJO – 4 stars ****
“Here are 11 songs of a romantic, Southern country-soul bent, as economical and well-judged in arrangements and execution as they are in their lyrical content, which is both painfully poignant and utterly unsentimental. The Delines’ way with romance is all their own, and for 41 sweet, orchestral minutes, time is suspended as we watch with our ears.” Uncut – 8/10