Drift Wood Miracle // Cuidadé EP

This is moody music. Sounds steeped and finished within interrupted joy and extended longing. The Cuidadé EP is a rucksack sewn taught with strands of nighttime thread. Inside this satchel are three charms. The first song, “Cabin In The Snow,” glistens with a gaunt face hid in half-shadow, with tears of past remembrances spilling. And, for a short time an ink smeared sky clears bearing a full moon, its light offers solace briefly; only until the dark clouds close and surround again. The second talisman, “Call My Name” is a cold carved stone with the scaly vibrations of an unsure heart. It whispers caution on a raspy wind, and you turn twist in your bed, until an unresolved pain groans against the coming burden of morn. And third item, “Brother’s Blood” is a wretched phylactery. It weaves tendrils of sad emotion against stumbling heart. This last song smells of death and ash; of light chased from eyes and laughter plucked of mirth. But strangely, it is the strongest of the three, for the sour fruit of its lament bears the seeds of hope.

This is the Cuidadé EP, and it gives the songwriter and musicians who’ve conjured it reason and space enough to mourn and rage beneath an apathetic and heavenly scrim. And in the end, the music converses with a ghost, a ghost gone but not forgotten. This is painfully beautiful music. Peace. Continue reading “Drift Wood Miracle // Cuidadé EP”

Lost In The Trees // Golden Eyelids

North Carolinians Lost In The Trees frontman Ari Picker has a wondrous voice suited best resting against those velvety moments when your heart is most vulnerable, whilst lost in love, or barely staying afloat chin-deep in heartache. There aren’t many artists who can do this so convincingly, perhaps Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius, as well as, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes are most similar. A. Parker has the quality of voice stripped of everything but an all too convincing woe. A voice which exists as a naked reminder of our understated humanity and the dark impressions that can leave us helpless.

Listening to the song “Golden Eyelids” is like staring into a shroud of flame, hypnotically captivating. This is music by which to warm your unfettered need and compliment your loneliness. And if you want more, well then more can be had of the bands latest release A Church That Fits Our Needs out now via Anti-Records. The songs on this album will sit in your stomach like a seed. Sprouting, this seed entwines your vital life-sustaining organs; though it blooms with fragile petals in the chambers of your heart. LITT have delivered music with the aura of fire-breathing shadows and syrupy hiccups of past remembrances that shade your mood pale blue and rheumy red. These are deeply personal songs, not so much entertainment as they are catharsis for the wounded soul who penned them in the aftermath of personal tragedy. When you get the this album you’ll find your ears and heart spending an inordinate amount of time lost in its undeniable beauty. This one is without a doubt a strong contender for album of the year. Peace. Continue reading “Lost In The Trees // Golden Eyelids”