Rain in Nottingham (or any part of England for that matter) often comes without warning. You might be under a cobalt blue sky, feral pigeons strutting on the pavement, and the odour of burnt Gregg’s wafting akin to church incense.

Drizzle starts, droning on dry newspapers and wrappers, then intensifying until you’re hit with a waterfall. Such a deluge happened to me while sauntering Nottingham’s city centre. I hightailed it into the (now defunct) HMV on Lister Gate, browsing around the offers and checking whatever on the listening stations. Westwood (always the chancer) had a double album out, so was Ms. Dynamite. As the rain receded back into a drizzle, I thought it was the proper time to stop loitering.

Then the album artwork beckoned me. Death in Vegas. Had zero idea of who they were, but on the back, Iggy Pop and Bobby Gillespie were listed. So was one of the Reid brothers from Jesus & Mary Chain. The album wasn’t on any listening stations as it was already a few years old.

The employee, studded on both eyebrows and the left ear, came round and asked “do you want listen to it?” I nodded a nesh “yes” and she took it out of the wrapping paper and offered some earphones. Dirge’s droning buildup sold me the album. Even if the rest didn’t turn out as good, it was reason enough to buy it. The price was right, and before I said anything, the employee suggested Aisha, a song with Iggy Pop on guest vocals. Also a banger. Then I checked out Lever Street, a soulful, introspective anthem.

“I’ll take it” I said to the employee as the placed it on a bag. “Their newest is just 3 weeks old” she said, pointing at the Scorpio Rising poster over a wall. “Maybe next time?” she continued while I still tried to form a sentence. My English wasn’t bad, I just wasn’t feeling ready to have conversations with people in those early days after moving to Nottingham. “Is the album good?” I ask and her face expression was “hey, he speaks!”. She took my tenner and when handing over my change, she quipped “Dot Allison is in it, which is great. But also Liam [Gallagher]…” and then tutted. “Swings and roundabouts” I replied and took the bag from the counter. Quick smirk and I don’t remember seeing her again working at the place.

The Contino Sessions is Death in Vegas sophomore album, and as you can probably guess, it’s a fantastic album. Genre crossing as if it were running from the law, Death in Vegas are confident on their music prowess. They don’t mind psychedelia with wobbly atmospheres (Soul Auctioneer), hard rocking spoken word rants with downtempo beats (Aisha), or the empty room introspection full of regret and sorrow (Lever Street). Dirge will always be the first song I recommend from Death in Vegas, but I believe they are deft enough to tackle any genre they like, whenever.

-Sam J. Valdés López