I was listening to Hello Emerson's How to Cook Everything this morning and was immediately comforted by its warm and intimate vibe. "Warm" and "intimate" are not usually connected to the music I immediately respond to, since songs in that style tend to pique my interest if I sense something deeper going on, but often require a few additional listens before really getting their hooks into me. And I was pretty sure How to Cook Everything would follow that pattern.
The majority of the album's songs follow the same conventions; gentle strumming, the occasional pedal steel, sparingly used but judicious strings.
Quite lovely, really.
I finally read the band's bio and felt a rush of recognition when I saw they were from Columbus, OH—of course they sound like The Decemberists on a nature retreat with The Mountain Goats! But the song that snapped me to attention was "We Lost"—the whole album is erudite and thoughtful, but only this song amps up the wattage and throws everything the band has at their fingertips at you. And it works!
Losing rarely sounds quite so triumphant.
No comments:
Post a Comment