Writing in a preview this July, we described Silverware, the recording project of San Francisco-based artist, producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ainsley Wagoner, as “something of a shapeshifting entity.” Previous album No Plans drew on an array of different genres to inform its art pop sound, and new LP One True Light, just released via Ghost Mountain Records, sees Wagoner continue to resist any clear stylistic conventions. “The result is fluid, unpredictable yet always finely crafted,” we continued, “with fittingly titled lead single ‘No Expectations’ introducing the spirit of the record. A vivid pop soundscape precisely mapped but intuitive in style, all anchored around the rich depth of Wagoner’s delivery.”
The Silverware sound is held together in this way, and One True Light shows how varied and inventive a style can be when supported by the common thread of vocals and production. The title track opener is almost a microcosm of this, with poignant piano giving way to a thumping full band arrangement which sacrifices no level of detail in conjuring its driving forward motion. Songs like ‘New Bright Room’ present something lighter, its diaphanous air fitting for the searching tone of the vocals, as though their uncertainty is reflected in the music itself. ‘Longer’ positions itself towards the folk end of the spectrum, a tender daydream of a song, while ‘Search’ continues the mood in a very different way, reaching towards art pop with its glitched tones and leftfield turns.
And so the Silverware sound keeps changing. ‘DWBK’ exists at a tangent from its predecessor, a branch of the pop line which heads in a dreamier direction. ‘Tell Yourself’ returns to a more momentous indie rock style which sits adjacent to acts like The Weather Station. ‘Gloria’ is back to folk, playing like some electrically charged hymn. The record’s ever-shifting nature brings the title into relief, One True Light—suggestive of something perpetual and unchanging—perhaps at odds with the sound it offers. But on closer focus and repeated listens, the name’s relevance continues to grow. Because however different each of the songs might appear, there is a sense of light running through them. A common creative sensibility. A spirit or voice. As though each track is a glass vessel blown to a specific shape and size, but the same light is shone through them to illuminate their most interesting dimensions.
One True Light is out now via Ghost Mountain Records and available from the Silverware Bandcamp page.
Cover photograph by Marisa Bazan