Review: Horse Feathers – Thistled Spring
Horse Feathers – Thistled Spring (2010) [Kill Rock Stars] // Grade: B+
My favorite albums are those that possess the ability to transport me to some other place. Often times that means the genre isn’t my typical listening choice, but that’s the wonder of exploring music, finding that chance encounter of an album that sweeps you away to unfamiliar surroundings.
Horse Feathers’ 2008 sophomore release, House with No Home, was a wintry mix of icy melodies and indie folk. Lead vocalist Justin Ringle has a voice so fragile it feels in danger of shattering at any moment. His vocals on House with No Home were distant and delicate, complemented by sparse instrumentation. On Horse Feathers’ follow-up to that album, Thistled Spring, the gray clouds part, the frost melts and hints of vibrant, colorful life break through the surface.
Like a road trip with no destination in mind, Thistled Spring twists and turns down unnamed country roads. Ringle’s voice is proud and self-assured on “Belly of June”, accompanied by strings and Appalachian-style guitar plucks. “The Widower” returns to the quiet thoughts of House with No Home, a melancholy melody kept serious by foreboding string builds.
Ringle has one of those voices that can stop you dead, demanding you listen closer, but his contribution to Horse Feathers is not the band’s only strength. Ringle’s carefully chosen words and pure tone are amplified by the folk backing of violin, cello, banjo and saw offered by bandmates Nathan Crockett, Catherine Odell and Sam Cooper. Thistled Spring is a group effort, able to transport away from your familiar city lights to a tiny town, somewhere off highway whatever.
