The Stevenson Ranch Davidians

Video by: Jacob Kedzierski



Click On The Cover To OrderThe New Record: Life & Death



"A day before my trip through Arizona last Sunday, I downloaded 'Life & Death' by The Stevenson Ranch Davidians.and good thing I did. The album was my life-soundtrack for the past week. There were dark moments of deep reflection and hallucinatory-like moments of clarity as each track off of 'Life & Death' played in order on my car stereo. With the full moon overhead illuminating the vast and empty Arizona desert, I floated like an old hawk overseeing it's familiar sands with such a comfort that it's eyes close as it's memory guides it over the harsh and black landscape.



Track one, 'Do You Feel Free?' sets the tone with a social-political like question in the lyrics, but with the melodic softness of a beautiful western ballad that doesn't preach to you, but lets you forget about the worries of outer forces and it leads straight into the open-road anthem, 'Cosmic Blues'.which it truly is cosmic blues. At this point, I could feel my grip loosening at the wheel and my eyes sink. By the time 'Looking For A Line' travels through my ears and to the core of my mind, I imagine the ghosts of old rising from the side of the highway.that of the pioneers and natives with the story of hardships and pain in their eyes around the pale glow of their once lively bodies. As the first line of the lyrics sing out "you know I've been high, god knows I've been low" around the death-march, creeping rhythm, a brief sense of hopelessness sets in, but is quickly lost in the swirl of the melodies. A few aural stimulants later, enter ‘Feelin’ Good’. It has a lead melody that’s oh so familiar…in that classic blues stompin’ sense. This is the track that will leave you face down in the red sand, the pain of sunburn on the back of your neck as you wake to find buzzards above you, waiting for that opportunity where you transition from one of the sheep into an eternal watcher without the ability to interject your useless emotions into the ant colony of society. From all this confusion, slowly creeps in the wind-riding, galaxy-cruising guitar tone of ‘I Wanna See’…the peace you were looking for as the choir of voices spin slowly around your mind which has just touched the ground once again, making you question the experience. Was it all a dream?…or the reality that you never knew?



Written by Curt Barlage