Richmond Fontaine
The High Country
Release Date: Sep 20, 2011
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: El Cortez
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Album Review: The High Country by Richmond Fontaine
Fairly Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
The High Country weaves a bleak and vivid tale of disaffected young adults living in an isolated logging town. Through varied styles and devices, the album's 17 tracks relate their struggles with depression, jealousy, love and drug abuse and employs an incredible mix of narrative ballads, spoken dialog, driving rock and ambient experimentation. Described by the Portland, Oregon band as an operatic tragedy, The High Country is an ambitious feat of imagination, atmosphere and storytelling.
Based on rating 5/10
When a band comes to the tenth album in their career, it’s not surprising to see them try something different. You certainly can’t accuse Richmond Fontaine of resting on their laurels. They’ve always based their songs around a literate, sparse alt-country sound, brushed with elements of other genres, or with the touch of collaborators such as Howe Gelb and Calexico.
Opinion: Excellent
Enhances Richmond Fontaine’s standing as one of their genre’s premier attractions. Chris White 2011 Many pop musicians have flirted successfully with literature over the years – think Leonard Cohen or Patti Smith for example – and Richmond Fontaine front man Willy Vlautin is another who is equally adept with a guitar or a pen in his hand. His debut novel, The Motel Life, is currently being adapted into a motion picture starring Stephen Dorff and Kris Kristofferson.
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