I saw Richmond Fontaine, a band I've liked for a number of years now, a few weeks ago at The New Roscoe in Leeds. The band always play the venue as part of their uk tours which i admire in that they probably could have upgraded to a larger venue by now. But still they keep coming back showing, loyalty I suppose, to the promoter that put them on in the first place. This is a rare thing in music unfortunately.
Anyway, they were touring a new album We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River and were better than i had seen them in the past. And they were excellent when i had seen them before, so they really are something special now. This album also is possible my album of the year, and i know there are 2 and a bit months to go, but i'm going to stick my neck out here. Stand out tracks are 'You Can Move Back Here', 'Watch Out' and 'Two Alone'. Willy Vlautin (an excellent novelist by the way) seems to have evolved his character based story driven writing in a less heavy direction which i think really benefits the album.
You could do a lot worse than get a copy of this record. My copy is currently got a special place on my desk since i managed to get it signed by a few of the band. I am a fanboy, it's true.
Tim.
