DELINES - The Set Up

The narrative power of the Delines is put to a tough test on this new album "The Set Up", the natural follow-up to that "Mr Luck & Ms Doom" which Willy Wautlin carried around the world while working out new characters and stories to weave into a country-noir-soul novel steeped in strong emotional undertones.

The new chapter was kicked off by the splendid, raw piano-and-voice ballad "Walking With His Sleeves Down", recorded at the tail end of the previous album's sessions and deemed not entirely suited to the romantic mood of that record. Hence the need to develop an appendix, a narrative space to house stories of con artists, addicts and losers - characters quite different from the protagonists of the tormented love stories on "Mr Luck & Ms Doom".

Three instrumental tracks, a spoken-word piece split into three parts and a set of six songs form the backdrop to an album that hands Amy Boone's voice a central role in the web of betrayals and cons devised by its characters; piano, sax and horns take the lead, leaving only "The Reckless Life" with a richer, more epic sound.

Amid a string of callbacks to characters from the past, some entrusted to the instrumental tracks ("Jumpin Off In Madras", "Get Out Of The Ward"), there emerges an excellent soul ballad that could have come off an old Esther Phillips record ("Can You Get Me Out Of Phoenix"), a gospel number tinged with sorrow ("Dilaudid Diane") and one of the most descriptive pieces, functional to the story ("Keep The Shadows Down"), where erotic-romantic tension peaks while the interplay of piano, sax and drums forces the characters to face a reality built on deceit and disillusion.

The light bossa-nova digression of "The Meter Keeps Ticking" lays bare the more cynical side of the album's characters. Indeed, it takes the longest section of "The Set Up" (the third part) to restore a shred of humanity and hope, before the languid notes of "The Last Time I Saw Her" bring down the curtain on this latest captivating chapter from the Delines.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

12/03/2026