“Icarus,” the premiere track, opens with a fiddling reveille that both speaks to the energy and aspirations of the band, but the original tale errs of caution when it comes to getting caught up in the critical success of Safe Ship Harbored.
Rather than being consumed by the flames of their past, the band seems to put aside the exuberance of the first album, instead finding a rekindled sound in the deep, dark, and lovely parts of folk.
This is immediately evident come the ponderously paced “Steady, Steady,” leading first with a haunting banjo line that is right at home on 18th century woodland path, followed by a growling anger in both the instrumentality and vocals that seemed completely absent from their first album. The bite is refreshing and invigorating.
While the band does invoke their influences on the album, sometime swinging into the Avett Brothers’ pop-folk melodies, fans of the Fleet Foxes’ yearning harmonies, Zee Avi’s melancholic vocals, and Mumford & Sons’ purposeful spirit will also be able to cozy up to The Fool in Her Wedding Gown. The performances by singers Kate Pillsbury and Emilee Petersmark are controlled while simultaneously venomous, and self-described “banjaneer” Tom Gunnels lays down the folk aesthetic that allow the vocals and rhythms to sit like passengers inside a covered wagon.
