The Spring Album You Need
When solo artists create a band, it would be only natural for their new projects tend to center around their presence. With Junip, luckily, that’s not the case. José González, a successful artist in his own right, fronts this group alongside drummer Elias Araya and keyboardist Tobias Winterkorn. González says on the band’s website that Junip is “truly a band album”—this is apparent not only by nature but also by name. By releasing a self-titled album, Junip declare their unity and security as a group, not just musicians who back up that guy that sang “In Our Nature.” And the result is a sweet one.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in High Fidelity, Reviews Jose Gonzalez, Junip
Fat-Bottomed Albums
When Daft Punk’s Discovery was released in 2001, dancers from all genres leapt at the hits-heavy record. “One More Time,” “Digital Love” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”—all immediately satisfying singles that grab listeners and refuse to let go. However, the producers pushed all of these tracks towards the front of the album, causing the second half to not match up to the first. While Deadstring Brothers come from the Rock Planet, rather than from Planet Dance, the country/bluegrass band suffers from the complementary disease. Cannery Row is bottom-heavy, the first half being decent but boring alt-country rock until they rev it up for the second portion.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews Deadstring Brothers
Heavy, Mysterious and Idiosyncratic
Folk music’s history has roots in storytelling: in plots, characters, adventures and heartbreaks. Often, in modern folk, songwriters opt for romance rather than rollicking in lyrics. “I loved him/her, he/she didn’t love me back—now listen to the details for forty minutes” is usually the menu for folk or Americana bands. Rhode Island’s Brown Bird, however, rips that formula open. In Fits of Reason, they tell stories, explore celestial heavens and question philosophies through a unique style influenced by Middle Eastern music and psychedelic rock. But, rather than creating a hodgepodge of themes and sounds, the album is a clean and coherent declaration of this duo’s talent and style.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews Brown Bird
There Are More Girls Out There than Lena Dunham.
Suddenly, and without warning, a dynamic trio of English girls appeared on the scene as the most promising folk group to be seen since Fleet Foxes. After touring with The Civil Wars and Bon Iver last year, sister group The Staves declare their artistic independence by releasing a debut album. Dead & Born & Grown is a fascinating record with complex and poetic lyrics and harmonies that could melt winter frost off your windows. Not only will these folky tracks comprise the majority of spring playlists, but they also solidify The Staves as a force to be reckoned with.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in High Fidelity, Reviews The Staves
Ring the Belles!
With all of the SXSW buzz currently pervading the internet, it’s important to look backward and see how music has grown in the past year. Some might remember a particular band with a sound so unique, indie-rock enthusiasts’ brains were known to combust while attempting to classify the brother-sister duo. After making a splash at the festival and on Conan, Wild Belle cannonballed their way onto the scene by signing to Columbia Records and releasing a debut, Isles. Isles slams all of the first-album necessities (introducing a clear and distinct sound, showing their influences, showcasing something new) in addition to setting new standards for emerging rock bands.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews Wild Belle
Where’s the Elevation?
On a tiny island, big talent gets noticed. Ólöf Arnalds, a longtime member of the Icelandic indie rock community, has slowly broke into the massive American one since 2010. That year she released Innundir Skinni on One Little Indian Records, which included three tracks sung in English. One of those songs even featured Björk in the background—again, not surprising considering that Iceland’s the size of Kentucky. Björk and Ólöf Arnalds make sense together; they’re both creative forces, lovely and quirky Scandinavian songbirds. But where Björk’s sound is large, experimental, and sometimes difficult to interpret, Arnalds’ sound is readily accessible. Her most recent record, Sudden Elevation, solidifies her place as an artist; her accent is unignorable, but her flawless English opens the door to universal renown, rather than remaining in the “Icelandic singer” category.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews Olof Arnalds
Kid Face, Old Soul
Crain burst out of the expansive plains of Oklahoma in 2009. That year, she debuted with Songs in the Night under the moniker Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers. A year later, she followed it up with the stripped-down You (Understood). Kid Face is her third full-length LP, and certainly her most complex. Of Choctaw Indian heritage, her natural folk inclinations characterize her lovely, honest lyrics and pleasing melodies. But this album is by no means simple. Highly personal, varied and intriguing, the record showcases not only her abilities as a vocalist, but especially as a lyricist.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in High Fidelity, Reviews Samantha Crain
Folk For The Rest Of Us
There are few things more American than Southern California. A native of Huntington Beach, Matt Costa’s music has always had a breezy nature. But on his latest album, he turned to the rainy British Isles for a new recording location (Glasgow) and, clearly, some inspiration. Loaded with horns and strings, his self-titled fourth record is wrapped in moody textures and plenty of variation, as if clouds continuously passed over the recording studio. At times heartwarming, at other times reminiscent and always introspective, this California musician expanded his sound many times over since his last album, the electric-drenched Mobile Chateau.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews Matt Costa
A Brooklyn Home Companion
Companion Companion Companion Companion—words repeated over and over gain lose meaning until the only thing left is the sound. So a band’s self-titled debut forces listeners to focus on its essence, not a specific concept. Pop music inherently, and by definition, relies on a collective audience to operate. There would be no pop music if artists didn’t have their eager companions; it’s the whole “tree-falls-in-a-forest” situation. So, if Pepi Ginsberg wanted to inform her audience as to how they should receive her new project, what better way than to welcome them into the process? Companion, at its heart, is unified—musicians plus frontwoman, one cohesive pop band.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews companion
Pray for Chelsea
L.A.-based singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe has already made waves in the alternative rock ocean with her atmospheric goth-metal folk tunes. Her last project, Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs, allowed her to transmit her spooky style through a gentle, nonelectric platform. This vehicle softened Wolfe just enough to reach the low end of accessibility. Those songs were even slightly pretty. But Prayer for the Unborn, her latest, descends from another planet of weird. Only ten minutes long, the album consists mostly of creepy covers of Rudimentary Peni songs, a British deathrock/hardcore band from the ‘80s. Sound strange? It is.
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By Tori Kerr Posted in Reviews Chelsea Wolfe
