Quilt
Held In Splendor

THE REVIEW

The band's self-titled debut album, released three years ago, already hinted at the potential of these three young men from New Hampshire, formally a folk band but with sudden psych expansions and never banal instrumental solutions.

The subsequent split album with their fellow countrymen and the highly psychedelic MMOSS confirmed this potential, and finally, their second album “Held In Splendor” even manages to astonish at times. Yes, because the maturation (both melodic and instrumental) is clear, and by resorting to very “pop” solutions, they gain in chromatic breadth.

Chromatic hues are foreshadowed by the emblematic cover, where a boat and its three occupants sit motionless, wrapped in a jubilation of quilts (which is precisely what "quilt" means), and confirmed by both the music and the lyrics, both kaleidoscopic and surreal.

Tracks are generally divided between acoustic and hypnotic (“Arctic Shark”, “Just Dust”, “Talking Trains” and the short and beautiful (“The Hollow”), where Anna Rochinski's fragile and charming voice stands out, and tracks more indebted to the 60s California sound (
“Saturday Bride”, “Eye Of The Pearl”), to the Byrds' jingle jangle with a garage approach (“Mary Mountain”, “Tired & Buttered”with a prog hint interlude) and to the indolent psychedelic ballad (“Secondary Swan” and the final “I Sleep In Nature”). Unrelenting, they throw in a truly remarkable instrumental featuring sax (“The World Is Flat”).

Worth noting, although common to many new bands with their heads in the ‘60s, the brevity of it all: 40 minutes and never even a half-minute of unwarranted self-indulgence. As it should always be.