Despite the pandemic, 2021 promises to be a hectic year for singer-songwriter Dean Owens. With three thematically connected EPs and an album, 'Sinner's Shrine' due for release, the highly lauded Leith musician will be a busy man.
The music has been recorded with American indie giants, and purveyors of Desert Noir sound, Calexico. It continues Dean’s fascination with the American borderlands. Following on from his ‘Buffalo Blood’ project with Neilson Hubbard, Joshua Britt, and Audrey Spillman, it sees Dean create his own sub-genre of “Scotch Tex Mex”.
Volume 1 of the ‘Desert Trilogy’ has already been released, and sets a beautifully cinematic tone. Dean has always written superbly about a sense of place, dislocation and longing, as songs such as ‘Raining In Glasgow’, ‘My Town‘, and ‘Closer To Home’ testify. Songs from ‘The Burning Heart’ seem to indicate that his craft has reached new heights.
From the pulsating drama of ‘New Mexico’, and the Sergio Leone soundtrack inspired ‘Paul Newman’, to the border tensions of ‘Riverline’, and the tender care needed for a flower or planet to survive in ‘Tombstone Rose’, there is much to admire and love here.
With the full album containing a track or two from each EP, ‘Sinner’s Shrine’ promises to be a little bit special.
‘The Burning Heart’ – (The Desert Trilogy – Volume 1) – Available Now.
‘Sand and Blood’ – (The Desert Trilogy – Volume 2) – Released 7th May 2021.
‘Ghosts’ – (The Desert Trilogy – Volume 3) – Released 9th July 2021.
The album ‘Sinner’s Shrine’ is due for release in Autumn 2021 on Songboy Records.