Kevin Bronson on April 3rd, 2012

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It’s easier to make sense of what Delta Spirit’s third album is all about – tried-and-true themes of love and longing – than it is to figure how director Abteen Bagheri’s video exactly correlates to the single “California.” The protagonist’s secret-to-her-parents life probably rings familiar to the disenfranchised, but how that ties in to a driving anthem about a long-distance relationship is a mystery. It’s as if the SoCal quintet is making a calculated play for the Hot Topic crowd, which seems a poor fit for both Delta Spirit and the Hot Topic crowd. With the March release of its third (and self-titled) album, the band has distanced itself from, or completely shed, its folk-rock roots. Which, by the way, Delta Spirit denies having had in the first place, even though anybody with ears knows otherwise. It’s all posturing. Delta Spirit’s new album is a crisp, straight-ahead rock record, closer to the Killers than Dawes, with the songs from Matt Vasquez and Kelly Winrich and the work of new guitarist Will McLaren shining. That should be enough.

||| Previously: Delta Spirit at SXSW; “California” download.

||| Live: Delta Spirit plays May 11 at the Fonda Theatre.