My faves in 2019:
01) The Delines - The Imperial
02) Steve Gunn - The Unseen In Between
03) House and Land - Across the Field
04) Ian Noe - Between the Country
05) Dawn Riding - Last Spring
06) Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out of Sight
07) Red River Dialect - Abundance Welcoming Ghosts
08) Claire Cronin - Big Dread Moon
09) Anna Tivel - The Question
10) Kelly Hunt - Even the Sparrow
01) The Delines - The Imperial
The second album by the Portland/Oregon-based band featuring members of Richmond Fontaine including their singer and songwriter Willy Vlautin. The songs written by Willy Vlautin feature a cast of down and out characters, but what makes these stories special are the weary and soulful vocals of the singer Amy Boone who brings warmth, intimacy, and color to the lyrics. All this is complemented by Willy Vlautin's noir arrangements which are responsible for the dark, rich timbres of this record, loaded with dramatic horn parts, weeping pedal steel and glowing Wurlitzer.
Released on El Cortez Records.
02) Steve Gunn - The Unseen In Between
The latest album of the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist, produced by fellow guitar wizard James Elkington. A record beautifully demonstrating what sparseness in music can achieve, not only on the tracks featuring solely a guitar and a voice, but also on the more lavish cuts with multiple guitars (slide, electric and acoustic) and fully-blown string arrangements. There's a dark, mystical folky tone to this record, the songs have weight and density, and both the more jam-heavy moments and the heartfelt ballads have a gorgeous transparency and fundamental simplicity.
Released on Matador Records.
03) House and Land - Across the Field
The second album for the North Carolina-based folk duo of Sarah Louise and Sally Anne Morgan. Free improvisation, minimalism, the power of drones, and electronic experimentalism - with overdubbing and multi-tracking used on some of the tracks - are beautifully contrasted with classic clawhammer banjo. A record bringing new twist to age-old American folk music.
Released on Thrill Jockey Records.
04) Ian Noe - Between the Country
Debut album by Ian Noe, a singer and songwriter hailing from Eastern Kentucky. Produced by Dave Cobb, who also produced Colter Wall's latest albums, which sometimes can be heard from the ways the voice is recorded and the way echo and reverb are used in the recording. Ian Noe himself cites John Prine as his biggest influence, which is not a surprise given the off-handed and unassuming style of his songwriting with its gritty authenticity and its knack for detail. Poignant storytelling on an album that seems to exist outside of time.
Released on National Treasury Recordings.
05) Dawn Riding - Last Spring
Atmospheric, mildly psychedelic lo-fi garage folk debut album from an all-girl band from Oakland/California. A dreamy, but often rootsy and gritty sound, a really nice warmth to all the tracks, vocal harmonies that intertwine beautifully, an album for loners and relentless romantics.
Released on The Long Road Society Records.
06) Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out of Sight
The third album from the North Carolina folk singer-songwriter featuring traditional songs, most of them obscure and more than 100 years old. However, Jake Xerxes Fussell is making these songs decidedly his own, seeping into mild funk, rock and soul, and giving these recordings a light and dreamy touch. He is joined by a band, including violin, pedal steel and organ, contributing to this easy-going, front-porch atmosphere.
Released on Paradise of Bachelors Records.
07) Red River Dialect - Abundance Welcoming Ghosts
The fifth album by the folk rock band from Cornwall/England. There are occasional outbursts, but most of the time the instrumentation is subdued, often there is a spiritual air to these tunes, a prayerful intensity to the quieter tracks. The songs possess urgency and intensity, and overall the sound is weathered and rugged.
Released on Paradise of Bachelors Records.
08) Claire Cronin - Big Dread Moon
A haunting, gothic folk record. The music is alluringly sparse: most of the arrangements feature only her guitar and the dark-moaning viola, with occasional synth and percussion for ambience. The songs are elegant in their simplicity and at the same time enormous in intensity. Slow, menacing, unsettling, sinister tales.
Released on Orindal Records.
09) Anna Tivel - The Question
The Portland/Oregon-based folk singer-songwriter's successor to her beautiful 2017 effort "Small Believer". Dominated by carefully crafted songs: lyrics rich in imagery combined with melodies exquisitely delivered. In these songs there's so much going on underneath the surface, and it's not at all hard to get soaked up. Which is also due to Anna Tivel's voice drawing you in to really listen to the stories she is telling. Musically, it is a wonderful blend of minimal piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment, on some tracks augmented by synths and strings of all sorts. Wide-eyed celestial folk songs with a slow shuffle, airily and whisperingly sung.
Released on Fluff and Gravy Records.
10) Kelly Hunt - Even the Sparrow
Debut album of the Kansas City-based, Memphis-raised singer-songwriter heavily drawing on traditional American music. The banjo is a central figure in her debut album: a deep-toned, warm and mellow sound from her vintage 1920s calfskin 4-string tenor banjo is making up much of the record's atmosphere. The soulfulness of that instrument and its compatibility with Kelly Hunt's alluring alto voice are immediately appealing. On most of the tracks her vocals are accompanied only by the hushed, warm plucking of that banjo; on other tracks there is some occasional guitar and pedal steel, an upright bass, a haunting fiddle, and some backing vocals. The album sounds both old and new, traditional and very original at the same time.
Released on Rare Bird Records.
P1000460
