“Brilliant” (Pop Matters, Boston Globe) bluesy singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst marked two decades of a life in music with the release of The Wild, on September 22. The arc of the album describes “losing the path, finding the path: losing your connection to your lover, to the muse, to your sense of self, and dead reckoning the way back,” says Delmhorst. The record juxtaposes a wide open sonic template – dark washes of electric guitar and pedal steel, bright layers of acoustic guitars underlined by cello and keys against lyrics that travel from deep melancholy to the joy of inspiration and connection. Miles Davis famously said, “Music is the space between the notes. It’s not the notes you play; it’s the notes you don’t play,” and Delmhorst uses that philosophy to create an uncluttered embrace of mystery and questioning.
‘The Wild’ is her first studio collaboration with her husband and fellow songwriter Jeffrey Foucault (“Contemporary and timeless,” NY Times), who co-produced and contributed lead guitars and backing vocals. Additionally The Wild features Foucault’s blues-steeped rhythm section of bassist Jeremy Moses Curtis (Booker T. Jones, Twinemen) and drummer Billy Conway (Morphine, Treat Her Right). Of the process of recording with such a close-knit group, Delmhorst reflects, “The best moments in the studio are the ones that feel like a bunch of kids working on a sandcastle, with a dead serious teamwork devoted to something that’s essentially play.”
