The Deacons

The Deacons, "Slow Rise Lady"
Recent Atlanta transplants The Deacons now call Cleveland, Tennessee, home and have brought their caustic garage rock sound with them. The band released an EP last year, and now they've uploaded a couple of new songs to their Bandcamp page. Ostensibly labeled as "garage demos," these songs feel completely unhinged, and I mean that in the best possible way. They've always based their sound on a slightly aberrant rock aesthetic, but with these new tracks, the band has filtered their love for psych and garage rock into a "Nuggets"-worthy addition to their history. Like their earlier work, these songs tread a familiar lineage but manage to create a visceral and distinct atmosphere in which the band can stomp and swagger.

For the video to "Slow Ride Lady," the band find themselves roaring through the song, rolling around in the streets and just relaxing in various places. The fuzzy visual effects recall a nostalgic memory of years long gone, but The Deacons are most decidedly looking forward even if they do borrow a bit from their garage rock antecedents. This track is a rollicking trip through classic rock riffs and howling vocals that recalls the best that '70s rock radio had to offer. It has a slightly sugary melody buried beneath all that guitar bravado, and it serves as our entry point into their world of roughed up rhythms and squalling guitars. As they pile their influences in an ever-growing heap, you soon realize that they're not simply borrowing these sounds—they're completely reimagining them. - Joshua Pickard