Strong, inspiring, back-to-roots, catchy original, dynamic, lush, shimmering indie pop by the Los Angeles quartet of Jess Wolfe, Holly Laessig, Dan Molad and Peter Lalish who with this new release return to their original, fresh method of writing and recording together bringing beautiful melody and nuanced, candid lyrics. After 2022’s Second Nature, it’s a bold move to self-title your fourth album, but that is rewarded with confident, self-assured, powerful work. Opener Final Days is a confident, poignant, slow build of wistful, powerful emotions on the theme of farewells, Wolfe and Leassig doing their signature unison and close harmony singing in an Abba-esque still, before Lalish’s guitar bursts into a series of crescendos (“The world will go on spinning / Another day, another scene/ And I'll be left with just a memory / And yesterday will be a dream”). Gold Rush is another fabulous track, with taut riffs and rhythms, flavoured with St Vincent-echoing funk. Do It All For You has a restrained, potent musical minimalism, allowing the rather beautiful vocals to shimmer, Stranger Danger mixes country flavours with dream pop, a thrumming bass and wooshing synths before moving into a sprightly Fleetwood Mac-esque momentum, as is the fabulously strong, drive-along Old Tape (featuring Adam Granduciel). Impressions (featuring Madison Cunningham on backing vocals) has a wonderful rhythmic strength, Borderline has a beautiful, bittersweet sense of an ending, preceding the confident, slow final tracks, the soaring Orange Blossom and the gently fingerpicking and orchestral strings of sensitively poignant The End of the Day. Out on Wildewoman Music/ Fantasy Records.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new songs and albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar X, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: