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Album Details

• Artist: Richmond Fontaine
• Album: The Fitzgerald
• Label: El Cortez
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-09-15

If you remember my review of Post To Wire you will recall that I fell head over heels for Richmond Fontaine's previous album. Needless to say that I had huge hopes for The Fitzgerald, the band's 6th full-length album, and I was satisfied with what I heard. Nowhere near as brilliant as Post To Wire, The Fitzgerald is a different album. This album seems like Willy Vlautin's confessional much in the way that Nebraska was Springsteen's. The two also have the acoustic thing in common. Vlautin took his experience in being holed up in a hotel in Reno, Nevada as the material to write this album. You'll find this album much quieter and mellower than Post and it tends to focus on desperation in the casino crowd. "Black Road", song number 3, is the album's first foray into anything that might be considered loud. The instrumentation is sparse at the best of times and works very nicely for this set of songs. The cohesion on the album is worth a mention. It seems that all of Richmond Fontaine's albums take on a theme and pull them off easily. It needn't be said but The Fitzgerald is an lonely evening album and listened to best with a good set of headphones cranked up. Given a year or so, this album may take over as my favorite of the band. I think there are many undiscovered elements that will be revealed over time.

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