Expressive folk music – February 2019

Silent Winters – “Firebell”
-We’re always suckers for a good male-female duo and the Ottawa-based Silent Winters have that in spades. The sweet, enjoyable folk sound is one that you’ll find at home in a variety of playlists or just to listen to their album straight through. It’s poetic without being sickeningly sweet. It’s the kind of easy going, almost-country folk music that will put a big smile on your face.

Silent Winters – “Borrowed Time”
-It’s rare that we cover two tracks from the same artist, so you know it has to be good. Silent Winters have a beautiful harmony, of course, but the acoustic guitar work on this one attracted me considerably. The combination, then, is something more like the Civil Wars and Simon and Garfunkel worked together. It’s really breathtaking.

Joe Marson – “I got it wrong”
-Marson hits with the bluesiest hammer, brother man. The groove on this track reminds me a little of Bill Withers or Nicholas David. The whole composition comes together with a powerful, persuasive style. The blues aren’t all about being sad; this track is lamenting the past certainly but also has this purposeful introspection that I find really interesting. He’s movin’ on. Mmhmm.

The Revelator – “Put Down Your Gun”
-We don’t always support political music, but when we do… well, you get the idea. This one’ll have you clapping along and singing. If you’ve ever listened to Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger and thought, “aw boy” then The Revelator is for you. What it lacks in production polish it makes up in “I feel like I’m hanging out with the coolest hobos in the world.” Also, smile a little, okay? There’s a bit of John Prine’s “throw away your TV” song here and we’re not mad about that either.

Harrison Storm – “Run”
-The funniest thing happened when I discovered this track; I was listening innocently to my own Spotify discover feed and ran across Storm and took note of this great sound. Then later I was processing submissions on SubmitHub and Storm was there! THIS SONG! How cool!? Anyways, the magnetic pop singer songwriter vibe here is sure to make a lot of fans. There’s a lushness to the production that makes me think that Storm is going to really take off soon. His sound reminds me a bit of the style that David Gray made popular a while back. You just can’t help but be pulled into it. It will be popular with a wide range of audiences. Let’s make it chart right now!

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