American indie rockers
Delta Spirit employ an atmospheric and anthemic blend of country-, blues-, and folk-inflected retro-rock with occasional electronic flourishes. Emerging in 2007 with
Ode to Sunshine, the band found mainstream success in the 2010s with their self-titled third LP and
Into the Wide, with the latter effort becoming their highest-charting to date. Following a short hiatus that saw lead vocalist and guitarist
Matthew Logan Vasquez issue a trio of solo albums, the band returned in 2020 with their fifth long-player
What Is There., followed by the electronic-leaning One Is One in 2022.
Pitching their style between indie rock and alt-country,
Delta Spirit features bassist
Jon Jameson, drummer
Brandon Young, vocalist
Matthew Vasquez, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist
Kelly Winrich, and guitarist
Will McLaren. The band started when
Jameson and
Young's former band, the San Diego-based emo outfit
Noise Ratchet, called it quits in 2004. Seeking a rootsy sound, the pair joined forces with
Vasquez,
Winrich, and founding guitarist Sean Walker. In 2006, the band issued their debut EP, I Think I've Found It, and hit the road alongside
Cold War Kids and
Dr. Dog. The following year, they self-released their first full-length
Ode to Sunshine; after
Delta Spirit signed to Rounder Records, the label reissued a remastered version of the album in 2008.
Earning acclaim for their albums as well as their live show, the band began recording songs for its second album at Prairie Sun Studios in 2009. The finished product,
History from Below, was released in June 2010. Just before
Delta Spirit's self-titled third album arrived in 2012, Walker left and
McLaren joined
C.O.C.; soon after, they moved from Long Beach, California to Brooklyn, New York. In 2013, the group contributed an exclusive new song, "Running," to the soundtrack of the AMC show The Walking Dead.
Delta Spirit returned in 2014 with
Into the Wide, a darker, heavier set of songs written and recorded in the practice space they'd rebuilt near an Atlanta shipping yard after Hurricane Sandy's devastation. It was recorded with producer
Ben Allen (who has also worked with
Animal Collective and
Deerhunter). It became their most successful album yet, both commercially and critically, and
Vasquez also began recording solo singles and EPs, culminating in the 2016 album
Solicitor Returns. Returning after a six-year hiatus, the band issued the potent and inward-looking
What Is There in 2020. Two years later, they released the adventurous and wide-ranging One Is One. ~ Andrew Leahey