Glorietta: Glorietta

Justin Jacobs on November 28, 2018
Glorietta: Glorietta

A good bit of the fun of the self-titled debut from rock collective Glorietta is knowing that this will probably never happen again. The album came together during a nine-day recording session last year. Delta Spirit frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez invited a handful of friends to a rented house in Glorieta, N.M., to make some rock-and-roll. Singer songwriters Noah Gundersen, David Ramirez, Jason Robert Blum, Wild Child’s Kelsey Wilson and studio wiz/ multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada answered the call. Nathanial Rateliff joined in late, reportedly driving all night so he didn’t miss out. The resulting collection buzzes with all the loose, boozy energy one would expect from a gang of friends kicking back with some guitars. Thankfully, said friends are all excellent songwriters, and the album’s pervasive vibe is underscored by some wonderfully rootsy, ragged and undeniably catchy songs. And viewed more as a mixtape than an album, it soars. Listeners get to waltz through the gusty blues-funk of “I Know,” then the sparse, lonesome and gently plucked folk of “Friends” and the breezy, front-porch country lullaby of “Easy Come Easy Go.” “Hard Way” is a pitch-perfect Ryan Adams rocker that Adams never wrote, and the raucous and ripping, sunbaked garage rock of “Mindy” comes complete with a Doors-y organ and a squawking saxophone. The album never settles into one style, and that’s exactly the point: It’s a short burst of effortlessly fun guitar music, not an artistic statement, and it leaves you wanting more.