Music Review: Deas Vail — All The Houses Look The Same

My second step along the path of discovering the music scene in the state my wife and I have chosen to settle down in, is provided by a five-piece band named Deas Vail, from Russellville, Arkansas. Armed with the vocals and keyboard work of Wes Blaylock, guitar-work of Andy Moore, drums of Kelsey Harelson, bass of Jonathan Childs, and keyboard skills of Laura Hudson, I have to admit that I wasn’t quite prepared for what I heard when I dropped their album into my stereo.

Perhaps due to a bias of what I would expect from a southern band — hell, something along the lines of the band I featured last week, Starroy — it took me a while to get comfortable with Deas Vail’s album, All The Houses Look The Same. That sentence might need a bit of clarification. Starroy, and the fact that I found myself enjoying the hell out of their record, perhaps had me not only expecting more of “the same,” but also perhaps initially rejecting anything else.

Then again, it also could be that I’m simply not as open-minded about music as I might think I am.

So, wanting and thinking about southern rock, what I found myself listening to was this wonderfully melodic album that just soared on the damned-near ethereal vocals of Wes Blaylock. Honestly, there are notes and heights of emotion that he manages to hit on some of the songs on this album, that I wonder if they’d had to tie him down while he was in the studio, lest he float away.

After a few more listens, and then a few more, I realized I’d probably listened to All The Houses Look The Same about fifty times in two weeks and it dawned on me that Blaylock’s vocals weren’t the only thing managing to soar.

I wonder if Deas Vail are as proud of this album as I think they should be?

Article Author: Michael Jones

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