Early last year, Dean Owens delivered The Desert EP trilogy, recorded with Joey Burns, John Convertino and Jacob Valenzuela from Calexico. We reviewed the releases individually (The Burning Heart | Sand and Blood | Ghosts), and in the final review of Ghosts, Mike Davies concludes:
Over the course of the trilogy’s pilgrimage to the shrine, Owens and his various collaborators have explored a variety of ideas, moods and sounds within the overall desert-Americana landscape, building eager anticipation for what the full album project will eventually encompass while simultaneously adding to the repertoire with both reinterpretations of past material and those non-album bonus tracks. It’s been a captivating journey.
Dean Owens will release Sinners Shrine on 18th February, recorded with musicians from iconic desert noir Latin rockers Calexico at WaveLab Studio in Tucson (in Jan 2020). The album is a joint release by London’s Eel Pie Records and Continental Record Services (Netherlands).
Below you can watch the video for the lead single After the Rain (out on 4th February), an old song revisited. It’s fitting that it was recorded in the land of photographer Ansel Adams, as it was one of his prints that originally inspired Owens to write the song. Ansel Adams is considered one of the most outstanding American landscape photographers of the 20th century. His meticulous approach to capturing the full tonal range of an image on black and white film produced some remarkable and stunning work. His techniques are still widely used and widely referenced in photography today. He also had a deep love of nature, something he nurtured from a young age…ironically, at one point, it seemed his path was towards music as he taught himself to read music and play the piano. He fell in love with the Yosemite National Park which he visited from 1916 onwards, initially taking images with a simple Kodak Box Brownie. His decision to pursue photography over music was encouraged by his perception of the music world at the time, one of “pose and insincerity and distorted values”. Looking back on those early Yosemite days, he later wrote, “I think I came closer to really living then than at any other time of my life, because I was closer to elemental things.”
That same passion is more than apparent here. While Dean may not have had a camera in hand, his music captures not only the very essence and spirit of the wide-open vistas of the American Southwest but also a more personal inner-awakening, one we are allowed to experience here in splendid technicolour.
Joey Burns (Calexico): “There’s something to be said for chance meetings of musicians when they travel, and the story behind Sinner’s Shrine goes deep into the heart of what happens when there is openness in both sides to share and connect. One of the standout moments for me working on this album was finding out how well Dean’s and my vocal blended. It reminded me that the world is small and that our link through music, regardless of our background, highlights the fact that we are all more closely related and that these bonds are still good medicine for these times.”
The video is by Ruth Barrie (Waltzer Films), and the Tucson film footage is by Nicki Young.
Special guests on the album include Grant-Lee Phillips and Grammy-nominated Guatemalan singer songwriter Gaby Moreno. Mostly self-penned (and produced), there are a couple of co-writes, with Gabriel Sullivan (XIXA/Giant Sand) and Nels Andrews. While still rooted in Dean’s signature sound, distinctive voice, and gift for economic storytelling, each song sees him pushing the boundaries, adding desert noir and Latin notes to his musical palette.
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://deanowens.bandcamp.com/
Website: https://www.deanowens.com/