“All the Colors of the Dark” by Federale

The musical landscape of any good Spaghetti Western is grand and limitless. There are awesome peaks, shifty tumbleweeds, smoky revolvers and rivers of whiskey. The music inspires a rustic swagger and bulletproof confidence. The new album from Portland’s Federale, All the Colors of the Dark, is an epic journey where casualties are cool and heartbreak cakes in the crevices of boots with possessed soles. It is haunting and strong. You can feel the gun powder burn your eyes and the hollow ground of recent graves. True cowboy music.

Federale has a sound a large as American history. The opening song captures the sparkle of stars entangled in the peaks of trees, the essence of coyote cries and tragedy in tales by the campfire of travelers in limbo. Murders delivered. Love lost. But the promise of the coming sunrise causes a flame of redemption and hope for justice in our deeds. Things happened. Anything can happen. And this music can help you through your own challenges. Whether you are a lost Mohican or hired gun, your fantastical frontier self will identify with the album from start to finish.

This album is among the best nationally right now, and as a Northwesterner you need to listen to it, be with it and conquer your ancestors’ perils through it. If the task is too long, then just put it on repeat.»