Last year, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Costalupes made a list of 33 things to do while 33. The lengthy list involved some healthy lifestyle changes, and finally writing some new solo music. Up until that point, Costalupes had been a professional musician touring consistently since he was 20, but it had been years since he focused on his solo career.

Previously, Costalupes established himself in the Pacific Northwest through his associations and contributions to bands such as VHS, Smoker Dad, The Rare Forms, and Family Worship Center. In 2020, Costalupes released his first single, “When I Come Down,” and a year later followed it with the 7-song EP, Exit Material.

Costalupes’s writing exudes an emotional immediacy. Redemption, regret, and self-reflection course through his hard-bitten roots rock, dredging up memories of the Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Gram Parsons, and The Blasters’s Dave Alvin. This is shit-kicking heartbreak, interwoven with teardrop pedal steel guitars, twanging lead guitars, and folksy acoustic that achieve something of a gritty transcendence. – Lorne Behrman