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Ringle is easily one of the few that can do it so well and lucky us, Thistled Spring is an exemplary example of what folk music is capable of when done right.
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So ignore the melodrama and enjoy the littler pleasures that are provided on Thistled Spring-- and there are quite a few.
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Broderick was once as integral to Horse Feathers’ sound as Ringle himself, but Thistled Spring doesn’t stumble in his absence, and the retooled lineup pairs well with Ringle’s warming disposition.
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There’s something cathartic in seeing another’s isolation. Thistled Spring, however, is bracing because it refuses to wallow anymore.
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These songs, especially in the album’s first half, are uniformly gorgeous—the melodies are often quite good, and this record is all about finding ways to showcase melodies—but they suffer from sameness.
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Thistled Spring, more nuanced and poised than its much-lauded predecessor, signals the ongoing work of a band far from finished, far from plumbing the depths of which it is capable.
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With their new third record, though, Horse Feathers have tightened and thickened their autumnal moodiness with a classicist, chamber-ensemble sound--and stifled themselves in the process.
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UncutIt features vernal song titles and sleeve imagery, in contrast to the half-whispered, wintery beauty of their last LP, which was echoed by its snowy cover scene. [Jul 2010, p.108]
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It's disappointing that even with all this potential that you'd be hard pressed to remember most of the album once it's finished. You'll remember that it sounded good, but you won't remember how it sounded and even several plays fail to bestow "grower" status on this disc.
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Thistled Spring seems a really lovely idea; the lyrics are beautiful, the musical texture is auburn and wood-hued, smooth-sanded and multi-faceted. But there’s nothing that speaks to me.