Opening track ‘Invitation’ is something of a mission statement for the record more widely, the song that started Magill’s new life of roving creativity. “I wrote ‘Invitation’ when life felt unyielding and shut off. I wrote it to try to stop waiting at closed doors and invite myself into a bigger life,” she describes. “Since then, I’ve become a nomad. Living as a constant visitor requires the daily practice of giving and receiving invitations—to connection, to creation, to exploration, to home(s).” In the song, the narrator is constantly waiting for the next such invitation, lingering in the twilit edges like a ghost or auspice of new experiences.

I’m waiting for an invitation
Like some pale, wan one
Standing on the front step
All the curtains drawn

Despite the emphasis on community and welcome, other songs on the record revel in a wanderer’s self-reliance. Described by Magill as “a disintegrating slow jam for solo folk,” ‘No One Again’ is all slo-mo rhythm and gentle melodies that have the dusty, dusky tones of a summer sunset. It is more whisper than shout, but holds a sense of poise and self-assurance, an empowering contentment to exist on one’s own terms. As Magill puts it: “Feast on solitude. Romanticize having no one (and everyone) to write about. Throw yourself a champagne picnic in the desert and toast your own singular magic.” S. Carey joins to provide some typically pretty backing vocals, and there are even some environmental recordings from Kansas City, all of which come together to transform what might otherwise be laidback indie pop song into something with many planes, refracting thoughts and memories into new patterns and shapes.

I don’t want to write a song about you
Satellite streak, eclipse of the moon
Broken arm slinging from an uncaught swoon
I don’t want to write a song about you

And when they ask me who
I’ll say nobody, and it’ll be true

Comprised of swooping keys and electronic percussion, ‘Meri Said’ is one of the poppier moments on the record, but is no less pensive or quietly stirring. What Magill calls “an ode to the words that find us right when we need them,” it’s a song about the power of connection and how even seemingly small sentiments and have life-changing reverberations. “Each verse is a paraphrase of hand-over-the-edge-of-the-cliff advice from real people—three close friends and two Internet strangers,” she describes, and as such the song comes to encapsulate the spirit of a record which champions casting your net far and wide in search of the words and experiences which come to shape a life.

Regrets Only is out now and available from the Quiet Takes Bandcamp page.

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Spurred by Trump’s election, Brian Cassidy of Wren & Shark Record Collective decided to do what little he could to push us a few precious inches in the right direction. Enlisting the help of a rather impressive array of talented friends, he has assembled a compilation to be sold in support the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC,) one of the US’s leading environmental non-profit organisations. The album comes complete with artwork by John Sabraw, an environmental artist and activist who uses pigments from polluted streams to create his ‘toxic art’ (which you can find out about here). Check out the full tracklisting below:

1. Jonathan Meiburg (of Shearwater) – Reincarnation
2.Will Courtney – I Got Your Back
3. Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs
4. Mikaela Davis – Pure Divine Love
5. S. Carey – Shiny Shoes (The Pines cover)
6. The Eastern Sea – The Entertainer
7. Reservations – Planet
8. Lowland Hum – We’re All Waiting
9. Brian S. Cassidy – Darkest Doubt
10. Black Before Red – Envy
11. Good Field – Surface Tension
12. Nori – The Garden

With the likes of Will Johnson, S. Carey and Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg involved, the release also serves as a timely reminder of the effectiveness of generosity and collaboration, a example of our only way forward – grouping together our talents and energies into something larger and more powerful than any one individual. Trump and his ilk are going to try to convince us that the environment doesn’t matter, that art doesn’t matter, that people of certain colours and genders and backgrounds don’t matter. It’s up to us, not only to resist, but to prove him wrong.

Wren & Shark & Friends is out today and you can grab your copy from the Wren & Shark Bandcamp page for as little as $10, though remember that all profits go direct to the NRDC.

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The product of the tour was a tour album, entitled Milwaukee To Edinburgh, 2013, comprised of recordings made at various venues that Umhoefer visited whilst in Scotland. The tracks range from recordings from shows (e.g. ‘Less Words’ at Henry’s Cellar Bar) and live sessions for Song, By Toad, to rather more intimate performances in less conventional environments. A personal favourite is ‘Unanswered Echo Verse’ from Small Hours, a field recording at Euan and Ali’s (presumably the home of mini50’s Euan McMeeken), with its ambient baby noise and resulting shushing from its parents.

There is also a video of the tour, filmed by Lindsay Slepekis, basically a short film, a collage of performances in a multitude of locations. The film ends with an incredibly intimate shot of Umhoefer’s performance of ‘Unanswered Echo Verse’ which I mentioned above, in which he is approached by the baby from the front and a cat from behind.  The whole thing is great and serves as a collage that perfectly illustrates the trip. It also shows that Old Earth’s songs hold up well in the live setting, and sort of proves what I already knew in that I could sit and listen to him play guitar for hours.

You can buy Milwaukee To Edinburgh, 2013 via Old Earth’s Bandcamp page.

P.S. Old Earth are playing a show with White Hinterland and S. Carey on April the 24th, so if you’re in Milwaukee get yourself along!

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Carey’s new EP, entitled Hoyas, is a slight departure from the sound of his debut, feeling a little more experimental and increasing the use of electronics. That isn’t to say it lacks the natural completeness of All We Grow, it’s just a different sonic take on the idea. It’s true that the synths and use of the dreaded auto-tune may put some people off, especially those who dislike Justin Vernon’s transformation from melancholic folky to Kanye-collaborating Grammy winner, but they certainly don’t detract from the EP. It’s a bold move and one which shows an artist unafraid to venture into new sounds. I for one am excited to see where S. Carey goes next.

Hoyas is available now from Jagjaguwar.

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