Rating: NNNN
By Divine Right frontman Jose Contreras is alone with his angels – he references them a lot – and the warm reverb of the room on his first solo album, recorded with Lee Maslin, who also produced BDR’s latest, Organized Accidents.
Contreras pulled together an album’s worth of material from various points along his 25-year, nine-album career with By Divine Right, reworking the songs for solo voice, guitar and piano. The effect is at times almost uncomfortably intimate and vulnerable, but also an effortlessly perfect psychedelic campfire version of his songs, an excellent soundtrack to the next inevitable summer blackout.
The naked bass line of Angels paired with Contreras’s soulful vocal will come back to haunt you, while She Knows (from 1997’s All Hail Discordia) and Twisted Crystalline and I Want Light (from 1999’s Bless This Mess) captivate.
Top track: Angels
