The New Orleans rock-pop collective The Crooked Vines’ new album Mostly Alive uses an unusual production technique. It’s a hybrid album featuring live tracks from over the past five years, which are augmented with overdubs and editing to create entirely new performances of favorite songs from their catalog.
Part of the reason for using these techniques is a fact of life for many bands in the trenches of the close-knit, but competitive New Orleans music scene. Personnel changes are inevitable. So, the band created a record that included as many of those previous members as possible.
Having seen them live several times, I can attest that the techniques work. For a band that is known for vibrant performances, the album manages to maintain the electric undercurrent of a live show.
The Crooked Vines released their eponymous debut in 2015 and their second album, Alive, in 2017.
