Strong winds are gusting outside as I write, bending branches and trees, and tossing pine cones like grenades onto the back porch with enough force that, if we’re unlucky, will explode. A winter storm of some sort is slated to hit us later this week, too, with some forecasters calling for an icy glaze, others feet of snow, and a few a bit of both. I’m huddled at the MacBook, hands stretched out over the heat emanating from the fourth outing from the Delines, Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom.
The 11-track set evokes the humid warmth of the Gulf Coast during summer, though its stories take place everywhere from St. Augustine, Fla., to Yuma, Ariz., to nameless urban locales. Within seconds of listening, beads of sweat drip down the face and cheeks. Or are they tears?
In short, the album captures the vivid lividity that is modern noir, with novelist and songwriter Willy Vlautin depicting the gritty realities faced by America’s forgotten. Amy Boone is his empathetic narrator, akin to the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, with her laconic drawl bringing the colorful characters to life. The title song, for instance, unspools the story of a homeless maid and the ex-con who stole her heart: “She never falls off the world because its him she’s holding on to.” “Her Ponyboy” could well be a continuation of that love story, though it’s not, spinning a saga worthy of S.E. Hinton.
“Left Hook Like Frazier” hits as hard as Smokin’ Joe: “I know it’s hard to be kind to yourself/When you’ve been put down all along/You think you deserve it/That why it feels right when you’re certain that it’s wrong.” “Sitting on the Curb” turns a house fire into a metaphor for a marriage scorched by infidelity, while “There’s Nothing Down the Highway” depicts the bleak futures too many face. Politicians and preachers say otherwise, of course, but as the evocative “Don’t Miss Your Bus Lorraine” shows, hope and second chances don’t go hand in hand: “Lorraine is starting to sink/‘Cause the only job she can get is a maid/In the back of her head is the beat/That a felon ain’t supposed to make it.” “The Haunting Thoughts,” for its part, tackles the anxiety that underpins life for all but the one percent.
“Nancy and the Pensacola Pimp,” “Maureen’s Gone Missing,” and “JP & Me” continue in the same vein, compelling short stories all that could well be developed into feature-length movies. The concluding “Don’t Go Into That House” serves as an epilogue of sorts, imparting heartfelt advice to the protagonist from “Sitting on the Curb” and “Don’t Miss Your Bus Lorraine” that, sad to say, will likely be ignored.
As with the Delines’ past works, Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom is an album-long dissertation on the aphorism credited to John Bradford, “There but for the grace of God go I.” It’s a moody yet stirring reminder that, to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, too many among us lead lives of quiet desperation. Those haunting thoughts aren’t easily forgotten.
The Old Grey Cat 