Hammock
Stranded Under Endless Sky

The sound of a departing train, snow swallowing the rusty tracks and bare trees, two slender and nameless silhouettes looking at each other at the stop of a somber, almost semi-dissolved station.

Hammock, duo from Nashville, with this EP with the emblematic title "Stranded Up Endless Sky" offer food for thought to any reviewer who wants to transcribe something material about the album, because all that is gathered after listening is a heap of different emotions, impossible to judge numerically.

From the title track, the opening piece, one is immersed in an ambient world with oceanic synth, almost feeling its waves accompanied by distorted guitars just enough, it feels almost like going towards the endless sky, a piece that digs into your subconscious and spits it out from your mouth in the form of a sea breeze.

From the majesty of the seas to that of bird migrations with "Birds Flying In Sequence", and here the guitar notes, though distracted yet wise, become recognizable, now accompanied by a hint of unison and effective percussion. And here everything is about to end, the atmosphere calms, and we arrive at "Always wishing you were somewhere else", the shortest track but the one where the album's peak intensity is found.

It is nothing but the reprise of the previous track, a guitar first arpeggiated then weak and mellow perhaps escorts us right there, at the moment when the silhouettes on the cover are about to say goodbye, there is the thought of always having wished she were somewhere else, of never having met her for having crushed your heart. The track is a crescendo of notes that strike the heart, and you feel there, between the snow and the tracks, spectator of this sentimental tragedy, photographer of that moment.

As promised, I will not judge the album with a number, for reasons already stated.

It closes with "An Empty Field", which calmly and wisely brings us back to where we started the journey; on the couch, in the car, or simply in the room, alone.

The headphones no longer emit waves, the ears receive no sounds, wake up Illacrima, you must return to reality.