Recorded and Mixed by Dave Feeny with DUENDE! at Tempermill Studios in Ferndale MI in a single session on Feb. 1st 2010 during a snowstorm. These were the last recordings to feature Jason "Bludgie" Worden whose final performance with the band was the records release on June 2nd 2010.
"Possibly Duende's most realized compositions yet collected — these songs are staggeringly well dressed with a delicious and chilling atmosphere, from wheezing organs to piano chimes and juke joint guitar clangs. "Way In Is Out" feels like a one-two punchy hoedown march. Their Hank Williams interpretation, "Alone and Cruel," is the record's jewel, rousing a spooky nocturnal waltz. The album is full of quavering vocals, drums and bass guitar topped off with a breezy accordion (from its engineer, Dave Feeney) and plodding piano (from Dutch Pink's Dustin Leslie). Way In Way Out's lyrics weigh as heady as Buddhist philosophy, from implications of fortune telling to the lonely spirits of Detroit, all shambled down into "Boss Radio's" freewheeling "big boom boom thump." Those dizzying guitars and minimalist hollow drums of "Boss" pair nicely with the spook-church sanctity of the furling organs. While the bass bends and booms with restraint on those blues shufflers it still manages to explode for supplemental garage rocky/girl-group backbeats ("Stop and Think it Over"). Not only that but the vocals are touched by the bravado of late-'60s rockers that freely lean into more sing-speak spells, flush with a spurring theatricality." REAL DETROIT WEEKLY July 7th 2010
Tracks 7 - 11 are from the band's performance at The Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI when they opened for Blanche. The live recordings also feature Scott Sanford on bass and electric guitar. Sanford's first public performance was with the band was on July 7th 2010 during the band's residency at Club Bart's in Ferndale MI and officially on July 16th opening for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac, MI.
credits
released June 9, 2010
Jeff Howitt - vox/lyrics, rhythm guitar
Laura "The Boom" Willem - drums, aux percussion
"Jelly Roll" Joel McCune - electric guitars, vox
Jason Worden - electric bass, throat singing
special guests
Dustin Leslie - keys, hammond organ
David Feeny - accordion on Alone.. Forsaken
Tracks 7 - 11
Jeff Howitt - vox/lyrics, rhythm guitar, theremin
Laura "The Boom" Willem - drums
"Jelly Roll" Joel McCune - electric guitar, vox
Scott Sanford - electric bass, electric guitar
Dustin Leslie - organ, electric guitar
A sleek take on paisley pop and 60s-by-way-of-the-80s garage rock from this Detroit three-piece, equal parts fuzz and sparkly sugar. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 16, 2024
Extra-riffy guitar rock gets dosed on this psych-tinged release, straight out of Southern California’s still-kicking garage scene. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 30, 2016