ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
April 16, 2023
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
I'm from Oregon. Not born there. Don't live there now. But my family moved to Oregon when I was six, and with the exception of a couple years in the Bay Area I lived in Oregon until Colorado became home about fifteen years ago. Anyhow, there are a handful of places in Oregon that are just quintessential capital-O Oregon. Situated in the very upper left crook of the state, Astoria features fish, trees, rain, lots of history, and socialists. It's exceptionally Oregon. Astoria also boasts more than its fair share of arts, including the Hackles.
The Hackles bring together members of the bands Blind Pilot, River Whyless, and Horse Feathers to make music that sounds like a warm amalgamation of those acts; sounds like Oregon. What a Beautiful Thing I Have Made is the Hackles' third record, and their first as a trio. Aside from contributions by fellow Oregonians Michael Hurley and Bart Budwig, the new sessions are the product of Kati Claborn (vocal/guitar/banjo/clarinet), Luke Ydstie (vocal/guitar/bass/keys) and Halli Anderson (vocal/violin). And the whole is nothing less than the sum of the greatness of these parts.
The appeal of What a Beautiful Thing lies largely in the songs' thoughtful arrangements, sounds that build upon one another and dovetail so naturally. The title cut features Ydstie's youthful voice, clean acoustic guitar and a distant synth drone filling the space between instruments like a mist. Make a pile of the leaves / Make a pile of the stones / I am building a home for my heavenly bones. Halfway through the song drums knit together the musical threads - the harmonies, the clarinet and Anderson's essential violin. "Damn the Word" is built around banjo and fiddle, with an unexpected undercurrent of fuzz and hum. The song is full without being overly busy, folk without giving into the genre's easy tropes.
The Hackles' vocal arrangements can be masterful in their clarity, the three singers interlacing their voices so that each stands out while contributing to the whole. Claborn and Anderson add breezy harmonies behind Ydstie's lead on "James' Drink", handclaps and clarinet contributing to rhythmic shuffle: I want to freeze us in our places / And stay forever in the last good night. The plainly titled "Steve" begins as a standard contemporary indie folksong before its restless percussion carries listeners into increasingly processed violins, becoming something other. "Pictures of Elvis" shares a coolness of mid-period Fleetwood Mac, mellow acoustic pop with an effortless appeal that you'll also hear in the mid-tempo piano and drum of "Water For Your Bedside": You look so alive when you're dying.
The jacket illustration for What a Beautiful Thing I Have Made depicts a seemingly haphazard jumble of boards and rags and weeds, a drawing that gradually takes shape and form and direction. There's a similar balance to the music of the Hackles, their disparate contributions falling towards resolution. While there is a familiarity to the folk instrumentation, the trio rarely stop at meeting expectations. "Hum With the Worms" adds busy percussion alongside bass and clarinet, while the chiming keys and trumpet cast a jazzy light onto "First Time For Everything": Rubbing nickels against dimes / & it's got me wanting more. Like Paper Bird or Nickel Creek, the key is in the collaboration, the interplay that results in unique textures and shades.
"Angela" describes raw feelings exposed after a night sifting through boxes in the attic of the narrators' parents' house. The song shifts from pop-folk to accapella, lured by a solid fiddle line and those extraneous sounds that add so much to the record's overall impression. On What a Beautiful Thing, the Hackles speak to a closeness, a warmth and a lushness that is easy to like. It's quintessential Oregon.
- Hayden Pedigo, "Elsewhere" Happiest Times I Ever Ignored (Mexican Summer, Jun 30) D
- Waco Brothers, "Backstage At the Boneyard" Men That God Forgot (Plenty Tuff, 23)
- Drive-by Truckers, "Puttin' People On the Moon (remixed & featuring new vocals)" Complete Dirty South (New West, Jun 16) D
- Mike Stinson & Johnny Irion, "Only Friend I Ever Had" Working My Way Down (Blackwing, 23)
- Ashley Ray, "Married" single (Ashley Ray, 23) D
- Rose City Band, "Mariposa" Garden Party (Thrill Jockey, Apr 21)
- Caleb Elliott, "Sweeter Paradigm" Weed Wine & Time (Single Lock, 23)
- Kassi Valazza, "Smile" Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing (Fluff & Gravy, May 26)
- Matthew Logan Vasquez, "I Found a Reason" As All Get Out (Nine Mile, 23)
- Chris Staples, "Nasty Habit" single (Hot Tub, 23) D
- Ben de la Cour, "Sweet Anhedonia (ft Emily Scott Robinson)" Sweet Anhedonia (Jullian, 23)
- Eilen Jewell, "Winnemucca" Get Behind the Wheel (Signature Sounds, May 5)
- Ryan Adams, "Don't Look Back in Anger" Morning Glory (PaxAm, 23) D
- Dean Johnson, "Acting School" Nothing For Me Please (Mama Bird, May 5)
- Wood Brothers, "Far From Alone" Heart is the Hero (Honey Jar, 23)
- Ward Hayden & the Outliers, "Badfish" South Shore (Faster Horses, May 5) D
- Parker Millsap, "Wilderness Within You (ft Gillian Welch)" Wilderness Within You (Okrahoma, May 12)
- Jake Paleschic, "Bad Memories" Wrongdoer (Niles City, 23)
- Tim Easton, "Sliver of Light" single (Black Mesa, 23) D
- Kelsey Waldon, "False King (live)" No Regular Dog (Deluxe Edition) (Oh Boy, 23) D
- Molly Parden, "Cigarette" single (Parden, 23) D
- Logan Halstead, "Man's Gotta Eat" Dark Black Coal (Halstead, May 5)
- Casey Prestwood, "Out of Place (ft Sierra Ferrell)" single (Prestwood, 23) D
- Bailey Bigger, "Arkansas is Nice" single (Madjack, 23) D
- Whitney Rose, "My Own Jail" single (MCG, 23) D
- Gabe Lee, "Even Jesus Got the Blues" Drink the River (Torrez, Jul 14) D
- Bonny Doon, "Let There Be Music" Let There Be Music (Anti, Jun 16)
- Angel Olsen, "Forever Means" Forever Means (Jagjaguwar, 23)
- Tallest Man on Earth, "In Your Garden Still" Henry St (Anti, 23)
- Fruit Bats, "Tacoma" River Running To Your Heart (Merge, 23)
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