Opener ‘Devotion’ serves as the perfect introduction, Maloney’s vocals deep and rich and almost mournful. However, the instrumentation is shot through with a brightness which conjures hope or wonder, an inextinguishable thread that strings together the entire album. The slow, folky yearning of ‘Highway Sketch’ is followed by ‘Exits’, a track lit bright and electric, reminiscent of the insistent emotion of Shearwater.

“If we can’t conquer the ends,
we’re slipping over time and time again,
’til nothing seems enough to satisfy the time left
[…]
the kindest thing that you could do
is tear it down and turn it into something new”

‘The Disenchanted Age’ returns to a more restrained brand of folk, a slow-motion sinuosity flicking behind Maloney’s croon, before the strikingly simple ‘No One Loves You (Like I Do)’ written by John Lennox, all acoustic guitar and Maloney’s velvety and yearning vocals. This is followed but the delicate intricacy of ‘Passing Phase’ which plays like VSF-fave Psalmships with an added dose of sunlight, before ‘No Warmth Against the Light’ brings a morose moment made cinematic with glorious strings and gliding piano. The cinematic edge continues into closer ‘Only Sometimes’, which again highlights Maloney’s ability to craft atmospheric arrangements, the vocal harmonies and gloomy grandeur capping off what is an unquestionably evocative album.

The Memory Game is out now and you can buy it from the Steve Maloney Bandcamp page.

The post Steve Maloney – The Memory Game appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Recorded with Afie Jurvanen (AKA Bahamas), the album expands upon her previous releases by adding a lush sense of precision and confidence. Here Lindeman’s writing is careful and lucid and wise, humble and shrewd in a manner normally reserved for those who have seen many years, been through many troubles. The result is an album warm and clever and clear, an album to turn to. Take opening track ‘Way It Is, Way It Could Be’ as an example

You looked small in your coat, one hand up on the window,
so long now you’d been lost in thought.
No snow on the road – we’d been lucky,
and it looked like we would be well past Orléans
and past Montmagny, the road giving way to river
the frozen Saint Lawrence white and blue.
We went out on the ice, and I turned back to you, a figure
distant and small in the long view.

Was it a look in your eye? I wasn’t sure.
The way it is and the way it could be – both are.
We got back in the car.

RIYL: folk, Field Report, Joni Mitchell

Favourite songs:

You can buy Loyalty now from The Weather Station’s Bandcamp page (or the Paradise of Bachelors Bandcamp page for those of us outside of Canada).

P.S. Lindeman is currently toruing the UK and Europe with The Mountain Goats (!). Check out the dates below and good luck getting a ticket:

Nov 12 – Leeds (UK), Brudenell Social Club
Nov 13 – Glasgow (UK), Art School
Nov 14 – Dublin (IE), Whelans
Nov 15 – Manchester (UK), Gorilla
Nov 17 – Bristol (UK), Trinity
Nov 18 – Brighton (UK), Komedia
Nov 19 – London (UK), O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
Nov 20 – Brussels (BE), Autumn Falls Festival @ Botanique
Nov 21 – Utrecht (NL), Le Guess Who Festival
Nov 22 – Amsterdam (NL) Paradiso Noord Tolhuistuin

The post Flash Review: The Weather Station – Loyalty appeared first on Various Small Flames.