Music

Daredevil Rides Again

The Daredevil Christopher Wright‘s long-awaited album arrives

Eric Christenson |

HERE’S THEIR MUG SHOT. The Daredevil Christopher Wright’s latest album, The Nature of Things, comes three years after their last disc.
HERE’S THEIR MUG SHOT. The Daredevil Christopher Wright’s latest album, The Nature of Things, comes three years after their last disc.

A  minute and a half into The Daredevil Christopher Wright‘s new single, “Divorce,” lead singer Jon Sunde sings, “The past is past; I can’t undo, so I will make it up to you.” Certainly the song title sums up its own subject matter, but it’s also a fair sentiment for the whole sophomore album. Due out on June 26, The Nature of Things is being released through File Under Music, a label out of Vancouver. The Amery-based group will have smattering of release shows including one at Grand Little Theatre on June 22 and a special in-store performance at The Local Store on the 26th, featuring vocal renditions and a live interview.

Daredevil’s first proper full length, “In Deference to a Broken Back” came out in 2009 as a hodgepodge of arrangements the band had played live and extra songs they had written anew. The solid three-member unit – Jon Sunde, brother Jason Sunde, and Jesse Edgington – have not forgetten those songs or the way they did them, but have instead learned from the process and, importantly, moved forward.

“There’s something about the human voice. ...Most all of us have one and it’s such a primal, relatable thing that people really respond to.”Jon Sunde on The Daredevil Christopher Wright’s signature vocal harmonies

“It’s kind of cliché to say it, but it is kind of capturing a little bit more of a period of our musical maturation and the change in our tastes from that ‘In Deference to a Broken Back’ period,” Jon Sunde said.   “It captured the time more than it had a specific inspiration.”

“Nature” is a model second effort, one that takes hints from “In Deference” (acoustic, chamber pop melodies, tight harmonies) and pushes them forward and outward, incorporating subtle layers of creative instrumentation (archaic bells, vocal looping, fuzzy organ) to create something truly unique.

One element that’s ingrained in “Nature” is a signature three-part vocal harmony, something of a commodity for the band.  

From the album’s opener, “I and Thou,” a shaker-driven softy, through “Divorce,” a strummy falsetto jogger, to “Blood Brother,” a jaunty oldie, tight harmonies are a central hook in each. And those are just the first three.

“There’s something about the human voice. We all have one; most all of us have one and it’s such a primal relatable thing that people really respond to,” Sunde said, humbly adding, “As a three-part act, being able to use your voice as an instrument really makes you bigger than you are.”

One of the album’s strongest tracks comes about half-way through with “Andrew the Wanderer,” a Beatles-y tune that mixes elements of McCartney-ish bass with several Strokes-ian guitar layers: a charming mixture, easy to swallow again and again.

Straightforward tunes like “Andrew” and stripped-down, acoustic “The Birds of the Air and the Flowers of the Field” are interspersed with weird, innovative choral works like “Church” and “Ames, IA,” never breaking cohesion with one another.

Sunde said this album has a closer sense of togetherness, as the time-span it captures is much shorter than that encapsulated by the previous album. But he expects the recordings to be more of a starting point than an ending one.

“It’s nice, if you have the luxury, to let the recording be the initial rendition of the song and be free to let [it] evolve,” Sunde said.

Daredevil’s sort of restless in the sense that rarely will a song stay the same for more than a year or so (see: “We‘re Not Friends”).   Typically, a song is recorded in a way and re-interpreted again and again through the band’s live show.

Those having seen Daredevil perform in the last year will recognize a few tracks (“We Fold Inside Of Us,” “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” “The Animal Of Choice”), but there’s plenty for even veteran Daredevil fans to marvel at here.  

It’s the sound of something aware of its roots, but not afraid to grow out; it’s the sound of a band that’s always learning, always wondering and continually trying things, which in itself is a rare and admirable quality.