Sun Belt
Cabalcor (Offseason Records)
Members of Fond of Tigers, Neko Case’s backing band and The Beige have come together to form Vancouver’s latest supergroup, a surrealist root rock band who go by the name Sun Belt.
The name itself implies Southern geography, so it comes as no surprise that their debut album, Cabalcor, is a southern gothic narrative about a fictitious town of the same name. In a press release, we are told that Cabalcor is a tar sands “mythical boomtown” that slowly fell into desert desolation.
The album begins with “Fort Iquique”, a 27-second instrumental swell that leads into “Country of Madmen”. Tremolo guitar, Tejano rhythms and peaking organs could sound right at home in the latest pop-cultural reference point du jour, True Detective, or a Calexico B-side (the album was mixed by the latter’s longtime collaborator Craig Schumacher).
Rick Maddocks' voice has an inherent yearning to it. Lines like, “Nobody left in this town goes outside alone now” ("Champion The Wonder Horse") and, “Loved ones' faces fading” ("Pale Destroyer") are classic country melodrama. There are stories in every whispery slide of Paul Rigby’s pedal steel, and Stephen Lyon’s feathery drums bring to mind the style of Jim White (Dirty Three).
While some songs do tend to blend into each other, the style of music they are working with is forgiving. This is an ambitious, well executed album, and a reminder of what great talent lies in this city.
All ratings out of five: ★★★1/2
