Starving Winter Report

Full Description

Starving Winter Report, Deadstring Brothers’ debut Bloodshot release, pulses with exuberant arrangements painted with the nostalgic call of the Rhodes piano, Stax-worthy horns and lonesome-prairie pedal steel. Frontman Kurt Maschke's warm and rolling lyrics and rock chanteuse Masha Marijieh's sultry vocals are the spine of the band (the soaring duet "Sacred Heart" being but one example); sustaining vocal harmonies so sweet and inseverable a crowbar couldn't pry them loose. It's an album with an undeniable flair that cries out for some big speakers, a Detroit rag top with a case of Stroh's in the trunk, and a reason to get good and GONE.

Littered with themes of dragged-out battles both won and lost, Deadstring Brothers have come out the other side all the wiser, with a record powerful enough to pierce your heart after the first listen. Sharp, nicotine-tinged odes teeter with the right amount of nostalgic spirit and rock sentiment (check out that excellent cover of the Band's "Get Up Jake" for ample proof); hearkens to a time well before we felt compelled to add the "classic" in front of "rock." The 'String Bros show it ain't dead.

CHOICE CUTS:
Sacred Heart
Get Up Jake
Talkin' Born Blues
Moonlight Only Knows

Short Description

The Deadstrings play originals that sound so familiar they could be classic rock radio songs that you're not sick of yet... and [Kurt's] lyrics are imbued with cinematic imagery and existential heft.

— Detroit Metro Times
[Full of] emotional weight and sonic power... no one has combined the Stones' bluster and energy with St. Gram's cracked, world-weary heartbreak quite as well as the DSB... There's no best song here; the whole album is great. It's loud, loose, ragged and not far removed from a stomping, beer-swilling masterpiece.

— Paste Magazine
When a CD hits like Starving Winter Report, it's time to celebrate, to blather like Jack Black about the power of rock, about its life force.

— F5: Wichita
...perhaps best of all, individual songs don't necessarily stick out but the listener is left with a feeling of exuberance and redeemed faith in the potential for rock to be joyous, raw and heartbreaking all at the same time.

— Nashville Scene
There is no best song here; the entire thing is fantastic, with each song flowing into the next just like they should. A true ALBUM and those are in short supply these days.

— Tablet Magazine
The record Gram and Keith could have made! A vital and immensely enjoyable album... and they don't sound stuck in the shadow of their heroes.

— Americana UK
What happened next was a revelation; the kind when you're realizing but not yet completely grasping the fact that you're discovering a great new band... Hit head on, every song is fantastic. Starving Winter Report is a masterwork.

— Pop Culture Press