Stephen and Sherilyn Collins, the Texas husband-and-wife duo behind Deadman, are used to the "alt-country" tag, but on their second album, OUR ETERNAL GHOSTS, they move further towards an atmospheric rock sound. The couple's vocal harmonies often recall Steve Earle's work with Emmylou Harris, but the full-bodied production here, courtesy of Mark Howard, a Daniel Lanois protege, has more of the dreamy-yet-muscular mood of a U2 record. "Won't Be Long," for example, features a dramatic, echo-laden chorus, and "Sad Ole' Geronimo" is fueled by blazingly distorted electric-guitar lines. While there is some pedal-steel twang present on the downbeat tracks "Slow Dance," "Love Will Guide You Home," and others, it's wrapped in such a gauzy veneer that it loses its country associations. Many of the songs on OUR ETERNAL GHOSTS sound like they floated away from Harris's Lanois-helmed WRECKING BALL sessions and found their way back to earth years later, making them welcome spirits indeed.
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