RICHMOND FONTAINE - HIGH COUNTRY (180G IMPORT LP)

Richmond Fontaine The High Country on 180g Import LP

An operatically tragic tale is told in Richmond Fontaine’s 10th studio album, The High Country. More than a concept piece, the Portland, OR four-piece have crafted a song-novel, in which a gripping tale is spun with fully fleshed-out characters, changing scenes, snippets of radio and spoken word passages. It’s a spectacularly unique album.

Richmond Fontaine’s frontman, Willy Vlautin, is a published novelist whose 2006 debut, The Motel Life, has just been turned into a major motion picture directed by the Polsky Brothers and starring Dakota Fanning, Stephen Dorff and Kris Kristofferson. With Richmond Fontaine’s latest album, he’s combined that story-telling prowess with his songwriting gift to stunning effect.

Set in a rural logging community in Oregon, The High Country is a gothic love story between a mechanic and an auto parts store counter girl, whose secret love inspires an effort to escape the darkness of the world that surrounds them. It’s a world of drugs, violence, madness, loneliness and desperation set against a backdrop of endless roads and the remains of a forest brutalized by logging. In this story of light versus dark, Vlautin has woven a tale where screw-ups and freaks terrorize the lives of innocents.

From stark, romantic ballads and dialogue sequences to raw Northwest garage rock and cinematic song-scapes, this album sees Richmond Fontaine’s musical trajectory soar far beyond their cow-punk roots, ably assisted by producer John Askew (The Dodos, Karl Blau).

Richmond Fontaine The High Country Track Listing:

1.  Inventory
2.  The Girl On The Logging Road
3.  The Chainsaw Sea
4.  Let Me Dream Of The High Country
5.  The Mechanic Falls In Love With The Girl
6.  The Mechanic’s Life
7.  Angus King Tries To Leave The House
8.  The Meeting On The Logging Road
9.  Claude Murray’s Breakdown
10. The Eagles Lodge
11. Driving Back To The Chainsaw Sea
12. Lost In The Trees
13. On A Spree
14. Deciding To Run
15. I Can See A Room
16. The Escape
17. Leaving