20 Miles – Deer Tick20 Miles – Deer Tick (Buy)

Deer Tick’s third album release, The Black Dirt Sessions, released on June 8, shows the band’s strong ties to melancholy melodies and beautiful cynicism. Most of the album is reminiscent of any break-up nostalgia that you might be harboring or self-struggle. Some of the songs tend to get a bit boring at times and you want them to not go on forever, but songs like The Sad Sun remind you why you began listening to the album in the first place.

Twenty Miles would have been a better track without the droning whine sailing through. However,  Goodbye, Dear Friend showed Deer Tick’s innate ability to make a beautiful folk track resonate in the way that “some stories break your heart,” as McCauley chants in the song. The band’s avant-garde, grungy folk is demonstrated in I Will Not Be Myself, which shows the scary realities of adulthood. Christ Jesus is a really beautiful up until the end when McCauley decides to scratch his voice while wailing and make your face cringe.

Overall, the album seems to be lingering with dark sentiments for the most part, which can be a little too depressing at times. The Black Dirt Sessions definitely has its ups and downs, but only if you can suffer through a few of McCauley’s bad wails. The album is overall not too shabby, or dirty, should I say? I give it a 6.4.