The album opens with ‘Under a Northern Wind’, a patient and windswept instrumental track which serves to set the scene and introduce what’s to come. It’s the musical equivalent of the almost Bob Ross-style album art, feeling as rich and grand and organic as the distant mountains and swaying trees. ‘White Gold’ is something of a love song, steeped in an aching melancholy with its atmospheric instrumentation and ratcheting, mechanical percussion. That said, the song isn’t muddied with some morbid self-pity, the sadness present is somehow gilded, sounding like a marriage of Frightened Rabbit and Bon Iver if said couple were to retire to some picturesque wilderness. Smith’s lyrics are important too, the simple poeticism complementing the vibe perfectly.

“Quiet now can hear the rain
It drips and runs
Down blackened slate
Heavy heart won’t feel the same
When I hear them call your name”

‘Come Away the Window’ pairs acoustic guitar with soft breathy vocals, like a dreamier, more pastoral take on folktronica. The percussion on ‘Do You Love Me?’ sounds like someone banging a kick drum in the apartment above yours, forming the almost literal heartbeat of a song strung out on emotion. “Now her hair is growing, she hums a song called ‘O Belong’,” Smith sings, “now the babe is showing and the white fields call me home”. The minimal instrumentation on ‘River Jump’ quivers and plinks behind a field recording of running water, conjuring a sense of meditative seclusion, while, as we said previously, ‘Soak’ sounds at once sweeping and intimate, Smith’s vague declarations both sincere and meaningful, like late night promises you’d only dare voice to a single, special person. If it’s not upbeat then it’s at least redemptive, rising away from struggles rather than falling toward them.

“I can see the light
Shining through
I can see the light
On this hollow night
It’s up to you”

‘The Lend’ floats by with a lazy bob, like the slow bend of a river on a late summer afternoon, before O Belong ends with ‘Wild Ones’, what feels like a distillation of all that has come before. Smith’s vocals are as hazily romantic as ever, the atmospherics warm and cloudy, the percussion understated and constant, little more than a background pulse. The song captures the overall vibe of the album better than any of the others, that bright and honest hope in the face of uncertainty. The majority of the lyrics take the form of questions, but these don’t feel like angst-filled pleas, rather a kind and loving promise to carry on no matter what.

You can buy O Belong now from the Fox Food Records Bandcamp page, including a lovely cassette edition (as always).

The post Good Good Blood – O Belong appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The answer, at least for now, is coming in the form of O Belong, a new album due for release on the 26th April (not coincidentally the second birthday of Fox Food Records). Recorded at home at the start of this year, the release feels very much like a progression for Good Good Blood. You’ll have to wait the whole thing but we are lucky enough to bring you an exclusive stream of the lead single, ‘Soak’.

‘Soak’ sounds like a song which began at the intersection of the first two albums, utilising the lo-fi folk aesthetic of the first release but with more of the experimental tendencies of the second, but quickly went off on a tangent, a new, third direction for Good Good Blood. Layering simple guitar, deep percussion and ambient drones, Smith creates something lush and warm without compromising on his lo-fi ideals, Warren Hildebrand’s production allowing the track a full-bodied feel without smoothing over any of the small details. The result is a genre-straddling gem, hovering between the Bandcamp generation bedroom pop and radio-friendly pop folk.

Lyrically, the song follows Hymnal EP‘s lead, managing to sound at once sweeping and intimate, the vague declarations both sincere and meaningful, like late night promises you’d only dare voice to a single, special person. The trick, I think, is how Smith balances vulnerability and assuredness. By lowering his guard to share personal sentiments of love and hope and faith he grows paradoxically stronger, defenceless by choice, because he no longer wants or needs the insulating, cumbersome weight of protective layers.

“Soak

Your soul in rain

I feel your pain

For what it’s worth.

I hear

You sing a song

Called ‘O Belong’

This ain’t your curse”

O Belong is set for release on the 26th April and you can pre-order it now via the Fox Food Records Bandcamp page, including on cassette.

The post Song Premiere: Good Good Blood – Soak appeared first on Various Small Flames.