Divine Providence

From the band that's been both accurately, and inaccurately, labelled just about everything this side of Top 40, comes a true-to-form rock-n-roll record. Scratch that, true-to-form is not Deer Tick's style. Let's start over. Naturally, after so many years of critics praising [and making fun of] them for their "folk" and "country" sounds, and hardly ever mentioning the fact that they've also recorded virtually dozens of other kinds of music, the band wanted to make a record that was truer to their live set (which has gained some notoriety): raw, loud, heartfelt, and completely uninterested in whatever the hell the rest of the music industry is up to.To produce this record, the band recruited the team of Adam Landry and Justin Collins, who produced frontman/ guitarist John McCauley's side-project Middle Brother's debut album. The results are unlike anything you've heard on a Deer Tick album, but Deer Tick achieves something that is a lot more accurate to their live sound. Divine Providence is the band's fourth album in just five years, and the first to be recorded in their native Rhode Island. It is the follow-up to their fantastic Black Dirt Sessions, that New York magazine called "flat-out great", and inspired the Late Show with David Letterman to give the band its network television debut. The new record features (for the first time), lead vocal turns on a couple of songs by guitarist Ian O'Neil and drummer Dennis Ryan.The songs are there. The delivery is in your face. There's no studio magic. It's rough'n'ready rock'n'roll, delivered from the heart. There's no hiding the fact that Deer Tick is just five regular dudes. This record may rattle your thoughts, and it may make you think differently about Deer Tick, but at least they didn't make the same album four times in a row, right?