El Cortez Records / Decor (label)
05 February 2007 (released)
27 February 2007
Anyone that has sampled and enjoyed the rootsier end of alternative country (early Wilco, Drive By Truckers, Nadine, Jayhawks) is likely to be well acquainted with Portland’s very own highly acclaimed band of miserablists, Richmond Fontaine. However, I like many, have been more content to nurture my sense of kinship with the oddballs of the genre (Will Oldham, Handsome Family, Songs Ohia, Sparklehorse) than drift towards the middle of the road, and as such have avoided said band like the plague. We all make mistakes, and so, with no investment in Richmond Fontaine whatsoever, I can confirm that the hype machine has, for once, hit on a winner.
Driven by Willy Vlautin’s gutter of a voice ' Steve Earl meets The Boss after a really rough couple of nights ' and an ambitious socio-geographical concept, Thirteen Cities is a stark, bleak, sad tapestry. Weaving a desolate picture of contemporary American life, the album makes you ache more and more with every song.
From the Calexico-infused tale of a kid who moves back in with his parents only to contemplate suicide ('Moving Back Home #2’), through sad observations on mid-life crisis ('Westward Ho’) and realisations of personal failure and confusion ('Lost In This World’), Thirteen Cities is stunning throughout.
Vlautin’s songs are truly compelling in word and music alike and Thirteen Cities has reaffirmed my faith in a genre that is all too often patchy at best.
