These Austinites make road trip music, and though Deltas takes the scenic route, it runs out of gas. It’s a stylistic step forward from Reddening West’s previous release, 2016 EP Where We Started, but the new full-length still gets caught in its own wash. Overly spacey singing contributes to the froth; Matt Evans’ soothing timbre loses clarity under too thick a filter, taking the punch out of an otherwise strong vocal performance and eliminating any sense of lyrical bite. The quartet also employs the famed indie-folk gallop, a surging string swell undercut by heavy kick drum. Deltas peaks its use with “June,” but it also features heavily in “Even If” and “Marjorie.” The convention mostly works, but all the same, it doesn’t do Reddening West any favors in sounding unique.

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This article appears in December 14 • 2018.

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