A good listen for the fall.<\/p>\n
If you like contemporary American singer-songwriters–especially of the folk variety–then you\u2019ll like this album. If you don\u2019t, you won\u2019t; it’s as simple as that. There\u2019s nothing here that\u2019s particularly revolutionary or groundbreaking, but as someone who loves artists like Josh Ritter and Sufjan Stevens I personally don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with that. The album is loaded with beautiful vocal harmonies, well-picked guitars, haunting pianos, and high-quality lyrics. Good for fall rotation, maybe coffee on a Thursday evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas A Time\u201d is the clear standout and deserves some solid play. It manages to be upbeat and melancholy at the same time with tastefully-used harmonicas and the kind of lyricism that makes this a compelling record. \u201cLudlow\u201d is quiet, contemplative, slow, and ethereal; there\u2019s even a minor clarinet that really compliments the song. \u201cIf It Don\u2019t Work Out\u201d is almost hymn-like with a real strong shout-out-loud sing-along quality. \u201cMiddle Ground\u201d is self-reflective and pretty;\u00a0again, very singable with interesting instrumentation. \u201cNo Not Tonight\u201d is marching and vocal with a determined beat–it\u2019s not my personal favorite but I think it\u2019d make a good radio track. Same goes for \u201cCold Comfort,\u201d although it\u2019s a little prettier and a little mellower. \u201cCalico Alone\u201d is a strong finish for the album: dark but not sad, more accepting, and not as predictable as it seems at first.<\/p>\n
Overall this album won\u2019t shake foundations or blow away expectations but if you like the genre then you\u2019ll like this.<\/p>\n
Recommended if you like: Josh Ritter, Ryan Adams, Cass McCombs, and Sufjan Stevens<\/p>\n
Recommended Tracks: “Was A Time,” “Middle Ground,” “Ludlow,” and “If It Don’t Work Out”<\/p>\n
Reviewed by Will Orlowski on September 18, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A good listen for the fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":31761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3230,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-new-music-rotation","category-rock-rotation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/shipwreck-from-the-shore-anthony-damato.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}