Sep 29th, 2008 · Liz Durrett is finally stepping out of her shell on her third and latest album, Outside Our Gates. Known for her sparse and somber Southern folk music, the Athens, Ga.-based musician has put together a release that still has plenty of gloom but is now balanced by over a dozen guest musicians, including her uncle, Vic Chesnutt.
Sep 25th, 2008 · Using the Bon Iver moniker, Justin Vernon became an instant critics' darling upon the release of For Emma, Forever Ago early this year. Vernon's primal falsetto accentuates his stark and simple arrangements in a session on WXPN.
Sep 5th, 2008 · Kerri O'Kane's new film The Gits succeeds as a documentary—she makes the viewer fall in love with her subject—and then some. Working with sparse footage from the 1980s and '90s, O'Kane still manages to make us fall head over heels for the rag-tag bunch of punk rock misfits better known as the Gits.
Jul 24th, 2008 · Teitur Lassen originates from the Faroe Islands in Scandinavia — which translates to Sheep Islands. But despite Teitur's quiet, sparse musical arrangements, it would be hard to call his sound at all sheepish. Teitur sings with such confidence and fervor on his third album, The Singer, that the effect is at times gripping. Songs such as "Guilt By Association," a story about an accidental murder, can be as thrilling with dramatic lines like "Run away, they are coming to get us now" as any film depiction. That isn't to say Teitur moves worlds with his words, but when he gets it right, his upfront vocals and bare instrumentation can certainly grab your attention.
Jul 9th, 2008 · From the outset, Cut and Run, the debut album from Brooklyn-based band The Silver State, is a down-on-your-luck, slow burning rock record. The album's first track, "Did What I Did," opens with the lyrics "When I'm Gone You Can Burn My Body," set to heavy piano chords and bass drum thumps — an styled arrangement that immediately calls to mind the dark lamentations of Bonnie "Prince" Billy. But while most of the record follows in a similar sparse, mournful vein, it is in the album's digressions that the band truly shines.
Jul 3rd, 2008 · Blind Pilot is the musical project of Portland, Ore. natives Ryan Dobrowski and Israel Nebeker. The two recorded their debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, after completing a tour that took them from Vancouver all the way to San Francisco — by bike. Nebeker says the group now plays as a nine-piece collective, but you would never know it from listening to 3 Rounds. The group offers a minimalist folk sound built on Nebeker's simple acoustic guitar and Dobrowski's sparse drumming.
Sep 6th, 2007 · "You Can't Fail Me Now" began life on Loudon Wainwright III's new album, but co-writer and producer Joe Henry reworks it on his own new album. Formerly a slow, hookless strings-and-guitar ballad, it's now more sparse, more morose and even lovelier.
Jun 26th, 2007 · Handsome Furs, a duo composed of Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner and his fiancee Alexei Perry, specializes in sparse, repetitive pop melodies coupled with baffling, poetic words. "Hearts of Iron" becomes more mysterious as it progresses over an even, hymn-like tune.