vireo is the recording project of Pittsburgh, PA’s Chris Beaulieu. His second full-length album, leaf heap, was released earlier this month, a record Beaulieu says was “inspired by lots of autumn walks, watching a lot Mr Roger’s Neighborhood and the book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.” Combining acoustic instrumentation with DIY percussion and soundscapes, vireo’s music acts as a vehicle for Beaulieu’s lyrics, which explore themes of nature and human emotion with a gentle sentimentality.
Opener ‘Distance’ sets the scene, a song “about wanderlust and always pondering about an elsewhere.” The first part of the song takes place in a daydream, that transportive window gazing in which you long for some far off ideal. And while the second half brings us crashing back to reality, it’s not glum and grey. Rather, it serves as a reminder that things are usually not so bad, and that it can be good to be present in the moment rather than while away time with unreachable aspirations.
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This feeling of hopeful reflection is the stand-out emotion on leaf heap. From the lilting vocal harmonies of ‘Uh Oh’ to the ramshackle clank of ‘Throwing Skippers’, the album is suffused with a sense of quiet joy, even at it’s most wistful moments. As the title suggests, ‘Acorn Tree’ is one of many songs on the album that’s concerned with the environment and natural imagery. Beaulieu sings of cobwebs and sparrows and oak over idiosyncratic percussive melodies that feel inspired by early 2000s indie folk bands like The Dodos or Born Ruffians. Nature is present too on ‘Saplings Singing’, with its shuffling, shaking percussion, and ‘Sleeping Outside’, which is stripped back and poignant, acoustic guitar tumbling gently beneath Beaulieu’s vocals.
Closing track ‘In Leelanau’ follows amidst a burbling chorus of animal sounds, almost-whispered vocals gliding in after around two minutes of picked guitar. It’s as slow and patient and peaceful as the late autumn dusk a distillation of everything vireo does so well across leaf heap as a whole.
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leaf heap is out now and you can get it from the vireo Bandcamp page.