"Easily the most engaging band to come trawling out of the Deep Elm stable since The Appleseed Cast, Desert City Soundtrack are a refreshing antidote to the throngs of scruffy, guitar-toting lads who currently encompass the emo nation. Funeral Car, the quartet's first full-length offering, tempers the band's murky angst with waves of minor-key piano flourishes that frame their woe in a cascade of beautifully harsh negativity. As they stammer and scream, you get the sensation that Desert City Soundtrack's despondency runs deep." - Rockpile

"You want touching, melodic piano and heart-breaking vocal harmonies? Funeral Car from Desert City Soundtrack hits me like a more punk rock Black Heart Procession. It's moody and moving and dynamic and heart wrenching, and sometimes the drums just kick your ass. It's amazing, these beats against the piano and against the bass underneath the guitar and the vocals, just standing there at the gates of your soul and raging like a cliff side against an ocean. The mellower movements are sometimes replaced by pure angry, driving stop-start rhythms and screams, and still, in it's own way, Funeral Car remains beautiful." - Big Takeover

"Desert City Soundtrack's turbulent beauty on Funeral Car is best absorbed in fits and solitary confinement. Their tapestry of meta-diametrical emotion can be cold piano figures from Cory Gray one moment, and the next blustering chops and anger over the way things are. Drummer Caitlin Love, all the while, keeps the proceedings in perspective, never letting the ride get too somber or violent. Songs like Drowning Horses strike a balance between stark piano and plaintive guitar before quickly transforming into white noise machination. Gracefully crafted and illuminating, Desert City Soundtrack is a band with a weighty sound and message. You'll remember Funeral Car long after it ends." - Journal Review

"As the Northwest hunkers down for a long winter, it seems timely that Desert City Soundtrack releases a CD laden with desolate imagery. From barren trees in the artwork to such song titles as Casket and Dying Dawn, Funeral Car is bleak, brutal and elegiac. At times, the musical tension builds to a stormy crescendo. Screamed vocals might be accompanied by blistering squeals of guitar feedback, or complemented by a thunderous rhythm squall. To its credit, Desert City Soundtrack doesn't resort to cliches when dealing with stark themes. For all Funeral Car's ferocity, there's still lucidity in its blind anger and liberation in its despair, and in addressing themes of loss and grief, the band expresses a complexity of emotions." - Oregonian

"Originality is something that I need for my musical diet like I need water to live, and Desert City Soundtrack provide this thirsty listener with a tall, cool glass. When Funeral Car kicks into high gear the band is a completely unstoppable force. On the aptly-named Drawn And Quartered, for instance, the piano and guitar argue violently over possession of the song's apocalyptic riff, each instrument getting louder and louder until the whole thing explodes, leaving only a flurry of gently-tapped piano. While hardly anything Deep Elm releases should be overlooked, Funeral Car is a particularly bright jewel in the label's crown, expanding listener's expectations of what the label will release without totally throwing all of those expectations out the window. Funeral Car, in that respect is the most gratifying type of record; the one that gives you every single thing you'd hoped for from it and so much more." - Deep Fry Bonanza

"Akin to bands like The Rum Diary, Earlimart and The Black Heart Procession, Desert City Soundtrack mixes rich textures with elegiac, contemplative vocals. Unlike these bands, however, they also explode into the chaos of guitars and shouts that are the first half of Drawn And Quartered. It makes sense how the band's sound mirrors their name, and how their related imagery mirrors their sound, especially put into the context of where they call home. Vocalist Matt Carrillo has the kind of voice that suits this band well, subtle and winsome when needed, but also strong enough to get him through the times when shouting is more appropriate. The glue that makes it all so consistent is the piano playing of Cory Gray, who also adds organ and trumpet. A band deft enough to resemble both the Nick Cave of The Boatman's Call and the Nick Cave of Big Jesus Trash Can is one that already deserve a place in my heart." - Skyscraper

"I want to start hearing more about Desert City Soundtrack less about the Mars Volta. Anyone who appreciates the musical innovation and artistic merit in the latter will assuredly be swept off their feet by Funeral Car. With all the elements that will completely awe music fans, this is spastic, unpredictable and heavy on the piano in a you-gotta-hear-to-understand-it kind of way. Desert City is rabid as the Blood Brothers, similar to These Arms Are Snakes and and has a nihilistic, abrasive jazz side that beckons to Giddy Motors. Proving to be very persuasive, I lose all sense of time and direction listening to Funeral Car. The songs build and collapse successively in what seems to be one grand scheme rather than segments and episodes. Consider each one a scene from Desert City and enjoy this soundtrack in its entirety." - Punk International

"Desert City Soundtrack sets itself apart from its indie rock contemporaries by putting piano and trumpet out in front of Funeral Car. Built around songs about loss and mourning, the record launches with the sad, lush My Hell. Hushed, pensive keyboards remain prominent on the pensive Drowning Horses, which crescendos with Matt Carillo's cathartic rants. The emotional purging carries over into Drawn And Quartered, a piano-pounding, drum-thumping take on hardcore. Easing up for the moody Dying Dawn, the horn-laced number hints at acceptance, but the band's compelling sound never swerves from being overcast, as brooding, bleak orchestration meets apocalyptic drama. Death for Desert City takes on a number of forms, be it loss of love, loss of sanity, or loss of life. Funeral Car is a sad and eerie vehicle worth taking a trip in." - Allmusic

"What do I love so much about Funeral Car from Desert City Soundtrack? Piano. Nothing slays me more than piano, and Cory Gray is extremely capable. This record holds a lot of interesting surprises. For example, Drowning Horses becomes intense with distorted guitar and screamier vocals seemingly out of the blue, but it works. Drawn And Quartered is an example of the bands' abilities of balance, composition and change of intensity. Funeral Car is very diverse, wonderfully composed and mature." - Alarm

"Though Desert City Soundtrack have been dubbed a post-hardcore act, Funeral Car shares only a passing acquaintance with the term, courtesy of the band's violently shifting dynamics. Yet, in combining this with dolorous piano and drums played as a lead instrument, Funeral Car is more a precursor of a new movement, picking up the horror of Bright Eyes, the angular passion of Cursive and the candour of Elliot Smith. Equal parts soothing and threatening, Funeral Car is the best album Conor Oberst never made." - Logo

"Based on the title alone, it's not too hard to figure out that Funeral Car is Desert City Soundtrack's death album, and they tackle the prickly mess of mortality with such feverishness that the beautifully bleak end product makes you sigh wistfully for past misery. Cory Gray's piano parts tend to be the most defining feature, the melodic counterpart to guitarist and vocalist Matt Carrillo's thoughtful and brutally sentimental lyrics, both of which impart to Funeral Car its most evocative moments. Songs like Something About A Ghost draw strength as much from Gray's mellow underscoring of trumpet as Carrillo's shifting from plaintive balladeer to raw-throated wailing maniac. All the while, the record's biggest moments owe a lot to Caitlin Love's astoundingly powerful arena-rock drumming. When I first heard it during weeks of happy, sun-kissed late-summer weather, Funeral Car was a good album. Cut ahead a few months to the blah of early winter - darkness at 5pm as bone-chilling rain pours down mercilessly - and Funeral Car is a great album." - North Bay Bohemian

"Desert City Soundtrack takes Funeral Car to extremes - from whispering to screaming, from quiet insightful moments to pounding rage - without ever losing control. That doesn't mean the music is restrained. Songs like Drawn And Quartered temper seemingly out-of-control driving pianos and desperate yell-singing with the subtleties of dramatic pauses and a song-ending chorale. It's the complete attack of vocals, piano, guitar and rhythm section that works so well, making the emotions almost tangible. Death, whether of a person or a relationship or a dream, doesn't always come quietly. There is no one correct emotion to have, but Desert City Soundtrack's onslaught of passion covers many of them." - Dallas Observer

"Perhaps the most unorthodox record of this year, Funeral Car is a stunning piece of work. It's difficult to describe it, pigeonhole it or even take it all in during one sitting, but it's incredible. The vision and craft is exemplorary, with vocals alternating from the smooth, dulcet tones of Matt Carrillo, to a harsh screaming effect which haunts yet envigorates. There are beautiful arrangements, ghostly piano-led sequences and a sombre tone which make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Funeral Car is an emotional rollercoaster, but the thrill and exilarating rush you get from the end is well worth the ride. Desert City Soundtrack are no average band, and you cannot fail to admire this record. It's beautiful." - Punktastic

"Funeral Car from Desert City Soundtrack is a deep collection of songs dedicated to death, grief and the afterlife. This is no regular band! We're talking lush piano and somber trumpet layered right on top of the ripping guitar and perfectly placed drums. Excellent for a first full length. Desert City Soundtrack have got a lot of promise!" - Amp

"Desert City Soundtrack has made good on the promise of their debut EP. Funeral Car starts off quietly enough, led by Cory Gray's drizzly piano and Matt Carillo's pained vocals. By the time Drawn And Quartered kicks into high gear, the band is in a full rage with Carillo's apocalyptic howls, Gray's backing vocals and pounding piano and the rock solid rhythm section of Mike Casanova and Caitlin Love (who might be Portland's best drummer). Desert City Soundtrack has made a giant leap forward from their humble beginnings and they should be damn proud of themselves." - Music Liberation Project

"Desert City Soundtrack is the best thing that has happened to Deep Elm since The Appleseed Cast. With a debut that exhibited an amazing sense of originality and passion, their latest, Funeral Car, shows how far their incredible creativity has come. The prominence of piano and drums creates a melancholic yet symphonic atmosphere. The sometimes sung, sometimes screamed lyrics of Matt Carrillo and Cory Gray swing this album into a dramatic work of art, like the score to a sad and intimate story. I'm really anticipating what Desert City Soundtrack are going to do in the future." - Bettawreckonize

"Funeral Car is clearly one of the most outstanding rock albums of the year, but what sets Desert City Soundtrack far above their peers is their willful disregard for anything resembling a traditional genre. It's a hodgepodge of styles, made more unique by the reliance on piano and the bits of trumpet that add to the guitar and drums. This is a band that can make music that is simultaneously lovely and frightening, intriguing and disturbing, yet always poignant and powerful. As good as Desert City Soundtrack's debut was, Funeral Car is even better, realizing their tremendous sound and fully compiling frantic energy and emotion with their unique instrumentation and perfect production. It's a brilliant release; powerful, dark, intense and cathartic. With a sound all their own, Desert City Soundtrack has released one of the most powerful and genre-defying albums of the year. Funeral Car is stellar!" - Delusions Of Adequacy

"Ready to break out of your mold? There's no better record to expand your musical tastes with than Funeral Car from Desert City Soundtrack. This Portland quartet expound a dizzying array of feedback-drenched indie rock; perhaps the most harrying explosion of such sounds since the mighty Archers Of Loaf first hit the scene. This has more dynamic range than a crate-load of hardcore singles, working the ebb and flow to maximum peak. As uplifting as it is cantankerous, Funeral Car is quite likely the indie rock album of the year. Scream their name from the rooftops; Desert City Soundtrack are colossal." - Flex Your Head

"Funeral Car from Desert City Soundtrack is a gorgeous marriage of sincere piano rock and post-hardcore energy, intricacy and creativity. The end result? An album full of momentous recordings that, while orchestral in scope, contains an incredible amount of intimacy. The haunted vocals switch between soft singing and pained screaming, adding freshness and clever impulsiveness to an already robust and original sound. The guitars and drums provide an inspired background for the nurturing piano, creating a sound unlike anything you've heard before. Top off the remarkable Funeral Car with first-rate writing and you're looking at one of the best records of the year." - Punk Rock Reviews

"The most endearing trait belonging to Desert City Soundtrack is the crystal clear piano playing, crisp and tuneful, leading you into their melodic offerings on Funeral Car. These tinkered ivories are at times accompanied by soothing verse and at others coupled with erratic, off-kilter guitars and screeched vocals. This is a particularly cathartic release...painful, yet still carrying the ability to exude a certain peacefulness. This in itself is a little unnerving, but will keep the listener interested, especially when the anguish kicks in and the band decide there's real noise to be made." - Rock Sound

"Awash in heart-rending piano chords, brooding atmosphere and tortured soul, Funeral Car from Desert City Soundtrack screams at you in desperation but simultaneously eases your pain with sedative melodies. Plenty of bands milk the formula...the schizophrenic jerking from shrieking, had-it-up-to-here madness to sweet, lonely sadness. Some mean it, some don't. Without a doubt, Desert City Soundtrack mean it. Funeral Car is dark, stormy, dreary and turbulent. Produced with textured intimacy, it urges and begs, coos and serenades. Drawn And Quartered crashes in with vicious grinding riffs and hardcore shrieks, while Westpoint features fluttering piano and shimmering beats. Whether it howls in anger or cries in remorse, Funeral Car's suffering is entirely, engagingly beautiful. Sweep all that other crap under your bed; this is all you need." - East Bay Express

"Piano-based screamo is a wild idea, but Desert City Soundtrack does a dandy job of pulling it off. On Funeral Car, the band delivers songs that trek through boulder-heavy premises of death and lost time. Although their subject matter often ranges from bleak to bleaker, the band's songs typically radiate a hopeful melody driven by piercing keys and glass-shattering guitar riffs. While some vocals are intoned slightly above whisper range, others frantically shred their respective chords, recalling Planes Mistaken For Stars or Thursday. On Drawn And Quartered, sandpaper-rough shouts duel with playfully baleful croons. Trumpets float behind ghastly wurlitzer on Dying Dawn, and Casket eases into accord with pensive sensibility. Desert City Soundtrack are talented kids with a comely edge and a taste for catharsis." - Real Detroit Weekly

"With Funeral Car, Desert City Soundtrack has made good on the promise displayed on their debut EP. The band's ability to meld plaintive, brooding, down tempo alt-rock with the screamy ghosts of DC and Richmond circa 1989 is still their bread and butter, but everything is sharper, more enveloping and imbued with an inescapable ennui. Aside from the their growth in songwriting mettle, the LP format has allowed Desert City Soundtrack to take their art to an entirely new level, and they capitalize on it with a patience and maturity rarely seen." - Splendid

"For those expecting a characteristically aggressive sound on Desert City Soundtrack's debut full-length, Funeral Car, you are in luck. For those expecting the band to take their aggressive nature in a new direction, you're in luck as well. And for those who have never heard Desert City Soundtrack, this isn't a half-bad place to start. The band has chosen to implement much more piano to their uncontrolled rock sound, and it does wonders for them, as it hauntingly rings in and out expanding their dark nature while the frantic drums roar under the disastrous noise. One canšt help but think of old horror flicks pulsating off the screen of an old ghetto movie house. Chaos is an understatement when describing Funeral Car. Still, it is a thoughtful record, covering a lot of territory and easily attracting the attention of anyone looking to satisfy their need for harrowing post-hardcore." - 30music

"Funeral Car is gorgeous, dark, brooding, atmospheric piano based rock. Changing from quietly beautiful to powerful and violent in the blink of an eye, I've never heard anything quite like Desert City Soundtrack. The song Drawn And Quartered is pure post-hardcore brilliance, while the dancing pianos throughout Take You Under are delicate, yet foreboding. From the slow building tension of These Games We Play to the moody feedback-bathed tones of Fields Landing to the cascading, triumphant ending of Westpoint, every song offers something new, something exciting and something you will never forget." - White Noise

"From the first listen I knew that Desert City Soundtrack would have a big effect on me. Deep Elm has some of the best independent artists...bands that have balls and power, but don't easily fit into any category. Some songs on Funeral Car have a soft singing to them, blended with acoustic guitar, bass and keys. Others have a back and forth between singing and a demonic yell, while the guitars drone thundering screeches and the piano plays a pounding, furious funeral-like march. Still others defy the mold combining both styles. Funeral Car is one of the best new records, mixing mournful emotion and bombastic, raw power." - Feast Of Hate And Fear

"Desert City Soundtrack tear up the stage with screeching guitars slammed on top of fragile piano themes all wrapped inside of a noise-infused delivery. Their drummer, Caitlin Love, absolutely destroys behind the kit and is wildly energetic in her attack, complimenting the high energy of the band perfectly. Desert City Soundtrack put on a smashing display of dynamic songs and skillful musicianship." - Pacific Northwest Inlander

"Funeral Car follows up Desert City Soundtrack's rather fine EP on Deep Elm, cranking out some fine post-hardcore / indie rock. The band deals in moody, drawn out songs that pulse and expand as the music develops. Almost every song builds up to the outpouring of the finale; a trait that many of the best post-hardcore bands have perfected. Where Desert City Soundtrack differ is that they place piano at the forefront, with the vocals mixed nicely in at a similar level to sound more like an instrument than an unwelcome intrusion. The balance works well. Still, there are times when the songs get loud and noisier, with some particularly wrought screaming. In conclusion, I am left with the thought that Funeral Car is a very good album." - Collective

"After a brillant debut EP, Desert City Soundtrack are back with their first full length, Funeral Car, and the band has gotten more aggressive this time around. The first thing you notice is that the songs are really driven by a piano and drums, captured in unforgettable moments of rock, especially in songs like My Hell, These Games We Play and Second Sickness. This record not only captures the attention of the listener, but it also demands that you have good ears..." - Truepunk

My Hell these two loveless arms sit so simple when you stayed over. one night some pillow lines stretched across morning light? sleeping on bedroom walls. you said "i remember why i loved you." i once lied too. pull the covers over us, let's forget who we've been with for only one night. it's only you and me, we could've been the cancer we despise (no atmosphere). knowing we will die on our own Drowning Horses i stood in the doorway staring blindly. i knew you were going to be the death of me. there's no medicine that could cure me right now. i don't want you to see me this way. air is growing colder. days are getting heavier. minutes turn to hours. hours turn to days. days turn to years. how much time do i really have? do i really care to know? what if i could have changed? would things be different? no matter what you got you want it. i was thrown was i deserve. we were lonesome - time spent well Drawn And Quartered you asked could i be honest with you. i'm keeping my distance from you. you're not yourself. i starve to death with connections i've made. your hands appear to be broke. you are uninvited. you have your reasons i have mine. just let it go. you're not yourself. leave me alone. sleep is going to kill me. something's trying to kill me slowly Dying Dawn i knew one day you'd be the end of us would catch up. tear into these hands the hands that kept me safe. no one escapes this life alive. let alone keep us in a lie. there's a change in seasons from dusk till dawn - overwhelmed. feeling of loss has paced its part. i was forced to breathe the same air this can't be kept silent. this can't be kept silent. so withdrawn, scared of dying, so scared? knowing i'm one day closer. hope you can hear me and my dying voice. screaming out "it's not me i'm not the one." leave me out of it Take You Under this breaking up is casting a storm between you and i. swells cover over us. don't let it take you under. trust is nothing i have and what we have is nothing i trust. nothing and nobody should ever trust. what's given to them. trust These Games We Play pull myself and the curtains off of the sheets. last night steps desperate conversations. i knew when i lost it. i lost you. its been years is this my way of saying. sorry i pushed you too far? i need to lose this edge and clear my head. this is intense i need to clear my fucking head. our secrets kept behind closed doors, now revealed. how many secrets have you shared with everyone? don't throw me against the wall you hold my throat. so i can't breathe so i won't breathe. how could i have been so close? those eyes weren't yours. why won't i let you pull the stitches from my wrists, like i've let you do so many times before? i've only got one week to live Second Sickness let's pick up where you left me. said i promise, don't hold that against me. if you do, let me go. somewhat protected. i knew i was wrong and self - injected. caught up in my painful lies. could you pull me out of this mess? after all this life is a complete mess. borrow a slow moving conversation. carry it into another room. no it's yours, no it's mine. lets carry it on. could we carry our own lives on? Fields Landing say what you want to say. i heard the explosions in the sky. its only going to be a matter of time. if your eyes could kill i'd be the first to know. so long, farewell and goodbye. afterall these winters aren't so cold. if my eyes could kill you'd be the first to know. can't really sleep though i can't say i really tried. i wake up with blood on my hands. why is your voice still haunting me? can't even try to explain why. we are better off alone, together and alone Casket a time of grief is a time of remembrance. suffer from the loss of a loved one. final rest, a place deepened now in sorrow. a decade of rosary may now be cited. how could this dead soul trace its past? and uncover up the casket? face his own casket. i have no idea what you're thinking. wonder if you care. unbearable mornings, unveiled by the dawn's early light. this is the unforgiving hour. that claims my life Something About A Ghost please stop screaming. i heard you sing something about a ghost. when i return to solitude addressing the apologies. these hands tied by a jacket produced by my own fears (you'll never know what its like). it's going to be okay, alright. how could you excuse the abuse? it's okay, it's alright. you've learned to live and then let it forget. it's alright, it's okay. his parents found him dead in a parking lot. you'd hit when you knew. my dad wasn't coming home. how could you excuse the abuse? Traction And Temperature (instrumental) Westpoint you kept me from shaking last night. wipe the cold sweat from these hands. sorry i lost sight of what i was sent to do. couldn't escape no matter how many times i've tried to do in the past. your arms, your eyes. they are like the tides we know. pull me in and push the moments aside. you don't make much sense. you're too tired of trying. i don't need you or this. it's so complicated. doesn't make much sense. to carry this out. could you forgive the way i left you? you said "i'm getting used to it, by now your apologies don't mean shit". whisper. screaming