Haroula Rose - These Open Roads

Haroula Rose has got some serious slow paced girly folk going on, most easily described as Taylor Swift without the pop influence. To speak generally, I think These Open Roads just kind of sounds like the overflow of broken hearted creativity from a girl who just got broken up with a few months ago… and for some reason can’t help but constantly talk about her ex-boyfriend/break up to all of her friends. On the other hand, my favorite part of this album is easily the pedal steel, whining behind her acoustic guitar and calm girl vocals. The overall sound of the album pulls back to the folk revival of yesteryear pretty successfully, just an earnest girl who hasn't cut her hair in a few years bearing her broken heart with a guitar. The two songs I chose “Duluth” and “An Other Break Up Ballad” are successful due to the constant presence of snare drum. In my opinion, the songs that don’t make a point of incorporating the drums fall flat and leave something to be desired. That said, if I ever get broken up with, you better bet I’m poppin’ this bad boy in and crying in my shower with the lights off.

Recommended tracks: 2 (An Other Breakup Ballad) & 4 (Duluth)

Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring (Kill Rock Stars)

Sometimes I wish I was born into the setting of Where the Red Fern Grows or Shiloh just so I could move to Boston and let Horse Feathers serenade me into daydreams about my childhood in the country. With Thistled Spring, the Justin Ringle solo project-turned-duo-turned-trio-turned-quartet somehow manages to create something even more eloquently picturesque than 2007’s masterful House With No Home without changing a thing.

Horse Feathers sticks out of the beardy-folk cliché like a sore thumb because of its prominent string section. The cello and violin players are as much full-time members of the band as is frontman/songwriter Ringle, so the string melodies serve to offset and compliment the vocals and guitar rather than to simply provide a backdrop. As Ringle’s wispy voice croons like a gust of wind, the strings, as literally as a metaphor can possibly describe, paint sunset-kissed hills and swaying cattails on a canvas of woody guitars and subtle, tasteful percussion.

And Ringle is so preposterously adept at setting scenes with his songwriting that he should be giving Sam Beam and Justin Vernon lessons. He writes in such a way that the lyrics don’t cut through the music but compliment it; the words are not the focus of the music but a point of reference to direct the listener’s Horse Feathers-induced daydream to a certain place in his or her past. Without even paying attention to the lyrics, “As a Ghost” could transport you back seven years to the top of the hill where you had your first real kiss, while “Belly of June” could be something as simple yet so satisfying as a warm gust of summer air from your open bedroom window as you sleep.

Thistled Spring is a perfect album to end a satisfying hard day’s work as you drift off to sleep. It’s equally fulfilling to listen closely and pick up a few beautiful pointers about flawless songwriting. It does what few albums have been able to do successfully in the past decade or so: remain sonically pleasing without sacrificing originality or freshness.

4.5/5

Watch the video for "Curs in the Weeds" off Horse Feathers' last album, House With No Home, and be sure to pick up Thistled Spring.

Thistled Spring is out today (4/20) on Kill Rock Stars.