ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
January 25, 2025
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
Fact is, the best thing we've heard in the past few weeks is Greg Freeman's I Looked Out. Originally quietly released in 2022, the record has been reissued with a couple new cuts by the Transgressive/Canvasback label, and is well worth your listening. Folks toss around Jason Molina as a comparison too often, and while there are notable differences, it works in the case of Greg Freeman. We're hoping for something new this year from the songwriter, from whom we expect good things. We've embedded just one of the tunes from that debut.
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Brown Horse, "Corduroy Couch" All the Right Weaknesses (Loose, Apr 4)
Next to the printing press and penicillin, the corduroy fabric is among our greatest inventions. Running close behind is the singing voice of Brown Horse's Patrick Turner (followed by the light bulb). The UK band's 2024 album, Reservoir, was among our surprise favorites for the year. With its shared lead vocal from Phoebe Troup and a sweet little guitar line, "Corduroy Couch" might be a stronger song than anything on that debut. Incidentally, our favorite inventions list will be published next week, with graham crackers and fire also figuring in.
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the Delines, "Haunting Thoughts" Mr Luck & Ms Doom (El Cortez, Feb 14)
Anyone who has spent a bit of time in Portland will recognize the trademark rain, the steel bridges, and the ubiquitous tent cities of the Rose City in the Delines' new video. Those of us who have appreciated the output from the band's last decade will feel immediately at home in this somber tale of the down-and-out, delivered with spot-on melancholy by singer Amy Boone. A perfect soundtrack for your next crawl down Burnside.
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Palmyra, "Shape I'm In" Restless (Oh Boy, Mar 28)
Our initial takeaway is that the Circle Thrift & Art Space in Richmond, Virginia is much busier than you might expect. We're also taken by this initial single from the Oh Boy label's new signing, an emo-folk trio fronted by Sasha Landon's heart-on-sleeve vocals: I put to bed the name my parents gave to me / And I was once a boy / And I will be a grown up when I get there / Tell your god I've not forgotten how he made me / I'm sorry for my face / I'm sorry for the shape I'm in.
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Samia, "Bovine Excision" Bloodless (Grand Jury, Apr 25)
Perhaps you'd expect something harder from a song bearing the name "Bovine Excision"? Then again, maybe you recognize the urgency in her video and lyric (co-written with Christian Lee Hutson), an approach the songwriter has termed pathologically confessional. Unexpectedly, it's the song to which we've been listening more than any other during the past week, with an appreciation for both the sting and the resonance which remind us a bit of last year's Merce Lemon record.
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