Sometimes you just gotta be you. The Delta Mirror frontman Chris Acosta knew that, and that’s why last year he shed his longtime stage name for his given one. Acosta (known up until last year by the stage name Craig Gordon) and David Bolt were two hip-hop-loving kids when they teamed up to form The Delta Mirror in the late 90s. The more overt hip-hop influences fell by the wayside, and Acosta and Bolt focused on a more chilled-out, atmospheric sound. Bassist Karrie K eventually joined the pair, and by 2010, The Delta Mirror was ready to release their debut full-length Machines That Listen. Most folks play it safe for their debut, and save the theatrics for at least the third or fourth record. But not Delta Mirror. Acosta, Bolt and Karrie K created in Machines That Listen a concept album in which every song takes place in a different room and tells the story of the person inhabiting them.
For Delta Mirror’s next record Better Unsung (which hit stores last week), Acosta decided to tell his own story. Bolt and K also took more backseat roles on this record, making Better Unsung essentially an Acosta solo record. He crafted a record full of vibrant beats and electronics that manages to sound completely organic. It’s a record made for rainy days and your Sunday morning come-down. One of the coolest tracks on the record is “Undeveloped Unreturned.” It begins quietly with an echo-laden guitar and a deep, low, Beatles-y drum roll before opening up into a song with a definite cinematic scope. You know that end scene where everything’s worked out, and the hero drives that long drive away from all the trouble past? This is the song that’d be on the radio as they hit the edge of town. That may’ve been what Acosta was looking for when he set out to make Delta Mirror’s new record his very own project. He’s leaving his past behind him, and forging ahead with something that’s most definitely his very own.
