Two Cent Revival

Between the dusty, desert noir of its verses and its cascading post-rock chorus, Two Cent Revival’s single “Crow” transitions suddenly from a Southwestern border feel reminiscent of Calexico or Ennio Morricone to the pulsing, arena-ready art-rock of Radiohead, The National, and Arcade Fire. In that way, “Crow” is a perfect orientation for a listener embarking on Demons, Two Cent Revival’s 11-song collection of surprising, narrative folk-rock.

The guiding light of <a href="spotify:artist:7x83XhcMbOTl1UdYsPTuZM" data-name="Tom Waits">Tom Waits</a> hovers over Demons as it does over essentially all progressive roots music of the last 35 years. Jones, however, approaches his subjects with a gravity and formality more in line with the raw narrative finesse of <a href="spotify:artist:1RM5gp0RFfjpJhCYFPB30p" data-name="Nick Cave">Nick Cave</a> than the carnivalesque surrealism of Waits. Dramatic personae and unfiltered confession take turns at the microphone until finally they are indistinguishable. Demons conjures a timeless, insular world of dark folk myth without conceding to the stylized and the retro. Sonically, Jones takes influences ranging from <a href="spotify:artist:099toTcKJoywTosZr2hHjy" data-name="Langhorne Slim">Langhorne Slim</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1M3BVQ36cqPQix8lQNCh4K" data-name="Shovels &amp; Rope">Shovels &amp; Rope</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:6pmxr66tMAePxzOLfjGNcX" data-name="Beirut">Beirut</a> &amp; <a href="spotify:artist:7ITd48RbLVpUfheE7B86o2" data-name="The Decemberists">The Decemberists</a>, wringing out their most affecting qualities and distilling them into a unique, powerful blend of expressive folk-rock.