If it’s a band with the talent to soar from songs full of catchy hooks, powerful vocals, toe-tapping rhythms, dashes of scathing polemic wit and lyrical prowess to soft-spoken, beautiful ballads you’re after, San Diego’s Delta Spirit are the band for you. Their second full length studio album, History from Below was released at the start of June, and certainly does not disappoint.

I’ll admit to being a relative newcomer to their music; I was recently introduced to their previous album Ode to Sunshine (2008) and spent a good few days obsessing over it – tracks like “People C’mon” and “Trashcan” defining their sound for me – different, upbeat, vibrant, but I know this is a band I will be listening to for a long time. History from Below launches into brilliance with the more politically charged “911″(which for the first few seconds sounds very acoustic and reminiscent of something more fitting to Ingrid Michaelson until the drums kick in!) which takes a satirical stance on the current state of the US economy –‘The folks back east, they say the market’s fine/I heard that before 1929’, and singer Matt Vasquez’s voice adds a sense of raw honesty to the lyrics, as with the entire record, which develops into an album with evident character. Up next is “Bushwick Blues”, which suggests that the band have stepped towards a less folk, more rock direction, but it feels natural, not forced, as Vasquez’s individual vocals driving the band’s truly unique sound. After such an energetic start, calming the album down and setting the tone for the next few tracks (“White Table”, “Ransom Man”, “Devil Knows Your Dead”) comes “Salt in the Wound” which seems to be an emotional and eloquent existential crisis. Far from being depressing, this track has become one of my favorites on the album, its conclusion is not one of despair but hope and respite in the beauty of the world – ‘Now with my heart wide open / I listen to the wind just for a word / Sure, I know it’s futile / But that’s all I have in this world’.

For me, one thing that stands out about this album is that it is certainly a mature and varied progression from Ode to Sunshine – it deals with love, spirituality, politics – and the range of sounds and emotions and intensities are broad – from the subdued, folksy “Scarecrow,” diffused with the soft sounds of birds, to the powerful, upbeat “Golden State,” to the eight minute epic story of “Ballad of Vitaly” – probably my favorite track on the album. Yet despite this variation, it remains cohesive, thanks to Vasquez’s consistent vocal style and the skill and adaptation of the other band members. My only criticism (and it’s a super tiny one!) is that part of me feels that History from Below is lacking maybe one more really upbeat, anthemic track, like those defining Ode to Sunshine. It is undeniable that the band has progressed, but subtly – the energy fueling History from Below is more reserved in some aspects than Ode to Sunshine – it is still powerful, but more mature and precise. There is less of the Americana feel that enlivened their debut – it provides more of a cocktail of genres, still retaining the punchy and original sound that Delta Spirit have defined for themselves, but introducing a new depth – really clear in tracks like “Salt in the Wound” and “Ransom Man”. I love History from Below, and I love Delta Spirit.