All You Pretty Vandals

Casey Neill is a longtime singer/songwriter who’s been playing anthemic and reflective rock ’n’ roll with a Celtic touch for years to anyone who'd listen. The Norway Rats have featured some of the best musicians in the Portland, Ore., area, including keyboardist Jenny Conlee-Drizos (Black Prairie, Decemberists), guitarists Chet Lyster (Eels) and Matt Brown (Storm Large), bassist Jesse Emerson (Amelia), and drummer Joe Mengis (Priory). Produced by Chris Funk (Decemberists, Black Prairie), All You Pretty Vandals sounds as if it could have been recorded in the mid-'80s alongside albums by R.E.M., Winter Hours, Miracle Legion, and Dumptruck. Songs like “In with a Shout,” “Vanish Away,” and “The Dark Divide” capture that dramatic sense of melancholy heard on vinyl records in college dorms of that era. Literate with strong harmonies from another round of guests—including Luz Elena Mendoza (Y La Bamba), Langhorne Slim, Scott McCaughey (Minus 5), Annalisa Tornfelt (Black Prairie), and Lisa Molinaro (Talkdemonic)—All You Pretty Vandals might even seem a tad old-school with its linear sense of sound. But timeless songwriting need not date itself.