Las Vegas Weekly

March 14, 2010 · 5:07 PM

The Delta Mirror: Back at the Bunkhouse

By Spencer Patterson

The last time The Delta Mirror played the Bunkhouse—opening for Sleepy Sun last August—the ethereal LA trio covered TV on the Radio’s “Blind” to sublime effect. Saturday’s Neon Reverb showcase at the same Downtown venue finds the Californian’s reimagining again—this time, Q Lazzarus’ “Goodbye Horses,” best known as Buffalo Bill’s song in Silence of the Lambs—and again, the results are exhilarating.

Missed it? Don’t sweat it too much: The Delta Mirror’s version is set to be included on an all-covers album slated for later this year. Right now, though, the band is focused on its full-length debut, Machines That Listen, out March 16 on Lefse Records. The concept album (each of its songs takes place in a different hospital room) has already drawn an enthusiastic reception, including a Pitchfork rating of eight for one of its tracks, “He Was Worse Than the Needle He Gave You.”

“As soon as that happened, everything changed,” singer/guitarist Craig Gordon says. The band landed March’s Monday residence at LA’s Echo; the three musicians will head home for it today before turning their van around for a trip to SXSW.

Though Gordon, bassist Karrie K and multi-instrumentalist David Bolt express concern over the music coming back through their monitors, the songs sound great in the room. The Delta Mirror’s melodies spiral and swirl, washing over the attentive crowd in waves of melancholy and hope. All three members sing, and their vocal combinations bolster the dreamy atmospherics. And the drums? Electronically programmed—for now. “We’ve been auditioning someone,” Gordon says, “but if we bring her in, we might have to write all new material.”

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