The Delines were wrapping up Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom when Willy Vlautin brought in a new song, ‘Walking With His Sleeves Down’. Amy Boone learned it on piano and the band cut it live, a beautiful take that ultimately didn’t sit with the album’s tone. It joined a small group of outliers — ‘The Reckless Life’, ‘Dilaudid Diane’ (a recent encore favourite), and ‘Jumping off in Madras’. These tracks worked sonically but not lyrically, and Vlautin kept writing in their wake.
The worsening US opioid crisis loomed over these sessions. Its stories of young people living rough in cars, tents, and makeshift shelters had already informed Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom, but they pressed even harder on what became The Set Up. Long-time producer John Morgan Askew returned to shape its atmosphere, building the widescreen worlds that have become a hallmark of the band.
By the end, it was clear The Set Up was a wayward sibling to its predecessor — more frayed, more haunted, yet unmistakably The Delines in its Cinemascope sweep.
The worsening US opioid crisis loomed over these sessions. Its stories of young people living rough in cars, tents, and makeshift shelters had already informed Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom, but they pressed even harder on what became The Set Up. Long-time producer John Morgan Askew returned to shape its atmosphere, building the widescreen worlds that have become a hallmark of the band.
By the end, it was clear The Set Up was a wayward sibling to its predecessor — more frayed, more haunted, yet unmistakably The Delines in its Cinemascope sweep.
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