The Devil Makes Three - Spirits
LE 100
HWF-RC Exclusive Rusty Revelations Colored Vinyl
This item is a pre-order and will ship in late February 2025.
The Devil Makes Three take the American pop tradition going back to the early 20th century and effortlessly update it, drawing an unbroken line between Scott Joplin on the one hand and the
Pogues on the other. With their songs for a new depression, the three piece finds a resonance in today’s troubled times, offering an escape from the struggles we all face.
Laced with elements of roaring ‘20s ragtime, finger-pickin’ country, Delta blues, prohibition-era jazz, acoustic punkabilly, what Dylan called “old weird America” folk and reckless early rock‘n’ roll, the Devil Makes Three – founded by frontman Pete Bernhard and guitarist/singer Cooper McBean, fellow Brattleboro, Vermont high school classmates in Santa Cruz, California, in 2002 – have released seven studio albums and three live recordings, the last three on critically acclaimed indie New West Records, the latest being 2018’s Chains are Broken.
After a Covid-induced touring break and a personnel change, with frequent collaborator MorganEve Swain (from longtime tourmates Brown Bird) taking over on upright bass and vocals for Lucia Turino, the band has been working on an album’s worth of new songs alongside producer Ted Hutt, a Grammy winner for Best Folk Album (Old Crow Medicine Show’s 2015 Remedy) who has also worked with Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, the Gaslight Anthem and Violent Femmes, among many others.
The song titles alone describe the band’s return to a stripped-down, drum-less sound and songs that reflect the ongoing struggle to survive amid the uncertainties of the current volatile climate: “Dark Gets the Best of You,” “Divide and Conquer,” “Ghost are Weak,” “Hard Times,” “I Love Doing Drugs,” “Poison Well” and “The Devil Wins.” The tracks were recorded at Dreamland, part of a converted church compound outside Woodstock in upstate New York which offered some haunted moments of its own, with plenty of spooky thunderstorms and lightning.
“There’s definitely a theme of ghosts and death running through this album,” acknowledged Bernhard, who lost his mother, brother and closest childhood friend while making the record. “It also has a good amount of political material, a reflection on how divided people are these days, just trying to find common ground. Not being able to perform our music live led to some deep reflections.”