Reviews for Destination
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They’ve just released their first full-length album Destination, which they say “lands in the space between Wilco and Calexico” (I would add Cracker and Chuck Prophet as references), “drawing on Americana, indie rock and desert noir.” We get twelve well-produced songs—partly instrumental—about searching for meaning, connection and a place to call home. The lyrics are memorable (“Singing Hallelujah at 3am // Fueled by the third wind of the night // We’ll burn you down like Warren Zevon // We’ll burn ‘til everything’s all right”—from Playing For Keeps), the vocals road-worn but magnetic, and the instrumentation and samples rich and warm—there’s a lot to enjoy and discover here.
Scummy Water Tower (named for a Replacements lyric!)
Overall, Destination is a wonderfully done concept album. With themes of meaning and searching and adventure. Of being found, and not lost. Of being remembered. Purcell has a skill of superb storytelling and creating perspective in an incredibly grounded and human way. If you’re looking for an excellent singer-songwriter album for the reasons mentioned in the previous sentence, look no further. This is arguably one of 2024’s best written albums and there are more than a handful of examples of songs that prove the assertion. Purcell’s vocals are among the best you’ll hear out of the Americana adjacent genres this year. (4.5/5)
— Alex M. Theel
On Repeat Records
The band’s latest single “Tito (Far Away, Not Lonely)” is a fantastic ode to big dreams…Dave cites inspiration from artists as diverse as REM, Los Lobos, and Calexico, and it’s not hard to find strands of DNA from each throughout the track. However, listeners may also hear traces of singer-songwriters like JJ Cale and Mark Knopfler.
Whether listening in full sun or under a canopy of stars, it all makes for quite an adventure.
— Kevin Alexander
3Albums6OldGuys at Substack
I still have great affection for bands like R.E.M., Uncle Tupelo, Calexico, Los Lobos, Drive-By Truckers, as well as the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan. All of these influences – from the musical styles to the interesting character-driven lyrics – can be heard on Destination, the thoroughly enjoyable, skillfully crafted latest release from Radio Free ABQ…
But as of late, there have not been many indie records that evoke desert noir and the American Southwest as well as Radio Free ABQ’s Destination. The music is fresh and, with each song, the lyrics drop the listener in the middle of a story. If the idea of blending R.E.M. with Calexico sounds appealing, then Radio Free ABQ’s Destination is absolutely worth checking out.” — Brian Kobil
Lost In The Manor
Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Radio Free ABQ, craft a riveting blend of indie rock, Americana, and desert noir in their soundscapes. Tito (Far Away, Not Lonely) is the striking single from the band’s latest album, Destination. This song will get you revisiting your big dreams, contemplating about maybe, giving them another chance. The lyrical ode to seemingly impossible dreams, like going to space in your self-built device, is given the perfect soundscape, one that feels warm, essential-only, and softly inspiring. Radiant guitars, winding synth tunes, swinging drum rhythms, and expressive vocals converge into an adventurous and energetic musical space, one that is calling out for you to explore. R.E.M., Los Lobos, Calexico, and other similar musical influences can be felt throughout the sound, making it a compelling listening experience, if not for the already exciting and enlivening story.
Reviews of the band
Cincinnati CityBeat
Dave Purcell’s music has ranged from the sturdy Americana of Pike 27 to the gauzier after hours ephemera of Ghost Man on Second, but at its molten core, where the magnetic gravity is created, it’s been a rootsy Midwestern romp through a soundscape peppered with sonic references to the likes of the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum and Bottlerockets with a dash of badass Detroit bluster, boiled down to a purified essence and filtered through Purcell’s singular songwriting perspective.
The breaking news is that a recent move to the Southwest has unlocked all sorts of new compartments in Purcell’s creative treasure chest. Imagine the mariachi band on Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” after an ayahuasca and cranberry juice cleanse sitting in with a Los Lobos side project. Imagine Joe Strummer collaborating with Spoon in studio on Stan Ridgway’s Mexican radio while Elvis Costello watches detectives digging for evidence in the desert heat. Imagine 21st century Howe Gelb time travelling back to 1980s Howe Gelb for a Giant Sand jam session with himself. Imagine this is all a shared hallucinatory fever dream between Joey Burns and John Convertino and they turn it into a Calexico rock opera.
Genres orbit around Purcell’s dome like rogue satellites transmitting galactic signals directly into his main frame. His influences aren’t chiseled in stone, they are as malleable as sculptor’s clay and he molds his songs in a similarly flexible manner, reflecting his creative soul’s prismatic response to his musical inspirations as well as his own estimable accomplishments. You can attempt to attribute a specific sonic qualifier to his work but, at the end of a long, hot, beautiful day, Dave Purcell don’t need no stinking badges. — Brian Baker
The Crossing
Radio Free ABQ have evolved a distinct and clever indie music sound in the high-desert southwest, skirting the soles with ornaments of Latin party and dance influences, then wrapping the whole damn thing with a tinge of high-altitude rock. If vocal refinement and delivery matter, imagine beginning with a stock metallic core of Bruce Springsteen, then modernizing to a lesser-dense alloy to get Eddie Vedder, then refining that creation even further by forging, polishing, and sealing for a much cleaner, lighter, yet powerfully convincing vocal delivery that is Dave Purcell. — Joe Smith, Stringer