Providence, RI five-piece Deer Tick has garnered a reputation as a hard-partying, raucous and trashy country rock band, and they live up to that billing on their fifth full-length, Negativity, but with – as the title implies – a darker and more melancholy underbelly. Negativity is the byproduct of a genuinely shitty year for frontman/vocalist John McCauley, whose father was imprisoned for tax fraud and whose fiancee (Those Darlins’ Nikki Darlin) – to whom he made a public proposal – broke-up with him. But out of the darkness comes some great tracks such as the bluesy lament “Trash”, ’50s rock inspired rocker “Just Friends”, a duet with Vanessa Carlton “In Our Time”, the folksy “Big House”, the surprisingly upbeat “The Dream’s in the Ditch”, and the autobiographical “Mr. Sticks.” The booze-soaked antics are toned down on this album, allowing for the songs to really shine through. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Dawns, Delta Spirit, Diamond Rugs, Dr. Dog, Jonny “Corndawg” Fritz, Middle Brother