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the two carve up each track like master craftsman, finding the perfect middle ground between the sparse, reverb-laden landscapes of the Great Lake Swimmers and the orchestral, aching beauty of Hem.
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I wasn't expecting the group to completely break from their ways on this follow-up, but melodically and musically it's a little too close to the debut to really feel like it breaks any new ground.
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It is really a much more modern album than the Americana tag would at first suggest, and the songs are as instantaneous and memorable as the best pop music.
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MojoBrodericks' augmentations tend to eclipse Rngle's sometimes evanescent songwriting. [Jan 2008, p.101]
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They are not evidence of a group wallowing in their own experimental pretentiousness. They are the finishing touches on an already admirable piece of work.
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They cast a powerful spell and sustain it over 11 tracks, yet at times you wish they'd jam, or perform a cover, or do anything to break it up somehow.
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House With No Home is the ideal second album for a band like this: a refinement and broadening and deepening, even of their sound, one that suggests a rich and hopefully lasting career.
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It leaves a lot implied, but slowly clears the way for a chilling catharsis.
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Any initial quaintness complexifies into something richer, more layered.
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If you like gorgeous folk, then this album is for you. If you don’t, well, The Hold Steady released something not that long ago.
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Under The RadarEach track possesses a sad beauty, thanks largely to Peter Broderick's heavily arranged bluegrass instrumentation, but Ringle's faint, barely decipherable vocals act like fog obscuring a lush forest. [Fall 2008, p.86]
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Singer Justin Ringle often muffles his words or loses them altogether (as though a wool scarf were covering his mouth) as he trudges through cadences reminiscent of Ryan Adams or Iron & Wine's Sam Beam, delicately dotting his stanzas with multi-dimensional characters weathering the winters of their existence. Which is more enriching than it sounds.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 1 out of 7
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SamOct 5, 2008Gorgeous folk album that grows with intensity by the listen.