Rounder

Following in the oft-derided footsteps of peers Kings of Leon and Cold War Kids, San Diego quintet Delta Spirit embrace their glossiest arena-rock dreams on their third full-length. Veteran indie-rock producer Chris Coady tucks away the band’s folky side – without any acoustic guitars or brushed drum kits. On the devastating album closer “Yamaha,” vocalist Matthew Vasquez crafts layers of interweaving cries over simmering synths and a delayed guitar so tender that it could be played by ghost fingers. Meanwhile, “California” sounds like the old Delta Spirit drifting in slow-motion underwater: This is clearly the same band that suffered, a couple years back, from those gnarly “Bushwick Blues.” (Dig those close-knit vocal harmonies and tight, dynamic instrumental interplay.) But Delta Spirit have never sounded this much like a studio band – tom-toms thudding softly, backing vocals rising in oceanic mists, squiggly synthesizers nuzzling up next to six-string squalls. But it ain’t all impressionism and star-gazing: The surging rocker “Tellin’ the Mind” is built on scorching guitar leads and what sounds like a drunken bird call. “Money Saves” is a windows-down journey through ‘80s Heartland hooks that you’ll swear you’ve
heard before (and quite possibly have). Settling into rock maturity rarely sounds this cathartic.