I first discovered Joshua Britton’s Psalmships the same way I discovered many superior folk/acoustic acts – via (the now sadly very quiet) Slowcoustic blog (specifically a cover of ‘Before We Retire’ on Slowcoustic’s J. Tillman covers project). Since then, I’ve kept an eye on the project, which is led by Britton and includes a rotating casts of friends and helpers. Pretty much everything Psalmships has released so far has been great, so I was excited to learn that there was a new album in the offing. Well now the time has arrived for said new album to see the light of day. It’s called I Sleep Alone, and I’m glad to say that it is really quite astounding in its quality.
I Sleep Alone is a beautifully human, sounding simultaneously hushed and impassioned, delicate and raw. The negative space that intersperses each guitar note has an emotional heft, an almost tangible substance that snakes around like fog. The lyrics are superb, and the whole thing has a depth that requires repeated listens to even begin to appreciate. It’s a bona fide “slowcoustic” album, with parallels to all of the modern greats (Molina, Tillman, Jurado et al.).
This is an album that deals with isolation and sadness in a way that is admirably honest. It also has that all-important quality that offers a glimpse of something more, something better. This means that the pervading sense of melancholy and isolation never becomes overbearing, and in fact the listener can find comfort in these tales of spiritual solitude.
‘Flesh Turn’ starts with some atmospherics that wouldn’t have been out of place on Hospice, and then develops into a intimate lament, bristling with a quiet intensity (until this restraint cracks rather spectacularly). One track that came to my mind was Damien Jurado’s ‘Amateur Night’ (from Where Shall You Take Me?) which was similarly hushed and pregnant with raw emotion.
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‘Heart Carries the Blame’ is slightly more upbeat, with some nice electric guitar. It also contains the stand-out line, “I’m full of shit, but I mean it”. ‘Stars Pt. 2’ is yet another slice of sublime sorrow, and serves as a tribute to Jason Molina (the second one we’ve covered recently, after Strand of Oak’s ‘JM’) and even sneaks a line of his in there. Molina himself would have been proud of album closer ‘Ships and Stones’, a real slow burner with languid electric guitars and emotive delivery. It’s a fitting end to a truly fine album.
I Sleep Alone will be released tomorrow (the 8th of July). You can pre-order it now via Big School Records in a variety of formats and assorted bundles. This is one of my favourite albums released this year, I highly recommend you get it right now.