Perhaps you’ve heard us talk about Bernard Hering before. Our adoration for the Nordic folk poet hit a fever pitch over his last single Colorado. He returns again with his exotic new mantra Border Town. Bridging the auras of Jose Gonzalez and Bruce Springsteen, Hering communicates more with his music than the media could ever convey. The song embodies the feelings, the essence of the experience.
He also presents an intoxicating vibe, illuminated on his latest single by a tremolo infected electric piano. It bounces elegantly beneath the vibrant picking from his guitar, as he patiently croons inspired poetry.
Perhaps Hering wrote the song for someone specific, but like Springsteen, the magic is how it relates to everyone. “I miss my home,” he laments. That home, this border town, it could represent a lot of things. For us, it’s important that it comes from a place of humility. Something the world needs a lot of.
Bernard Hering is featured on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
Kendall Bowser caught our attention with her new EP Sober Truths. The introductory Got Away immediately grabs you. It’s a testament to Bowser’s serene lullaby lower register. With your attention already captured she indulges your curiosity when she adapts to her intoxicating upper register. The stylistic adaptations evolve again as she embraces a sultry attitude in the songs second movement.
Beautifully produced, she offers an influence of indie pop to match her indie folk instincts. In that way she connects with songwriter Kacey Musgraves. Bowser shares in her star appeal and country offshoot affect. Hailing from Nashville, Bowser embraces new indie realms while shedding some instinctual southern flair. It’s heard in subtle flashes of twang. But songs like You’re Mine or You Don’t Call Me have more in common with Phoebe Bridgers or Swiftie than the current country machine.
A solid effort front to back, we were most drawn to the vulnerability heard on the single Healthy. “Wish you could be healthy for me.” The lyrical sentiment hits home and adds a refreshingly relatable familiar concept. It’s that shared language thats going to attract adoring fans to her altar, it definitely worked on us. Hear for yourself. Dig into all of Sober Truths.
Kendall Bowser is featured on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
We lost ourselves within the dreamy essence of Where We Started, the new single from Colin Manson. The expressive plucking flows like sea that blesses the cover art. The music emulates a slow moving rivers calming legacy. Who needs background water tracks when you have works this serene. Manson’s voice shares in its calming utility, adding lyrical encouragements with visual place marks like his “field by the sea” to inspire your imaginative dream state.
It’s as much an escape as it is a stand out composition. Gorgeous orchestration scans the melodic spectrum, with a puttering drum tagging folks tribal roots. The cinematic appeal cites his homelands treasured history, pairing tradition with a modern influence while staying true to an organic construct. From the fiddle to the war drum, these tools have haunted these valleys for centuries. A modern song now offers them new fields to roam. Colin Manson connects with writers like Damien Rice or more classically Jackson C Frank.
Hear Where We Started now on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
On the heels of Halloween Victor V. Gurbo dropped their new EP Haunted Houses and Empty Beds. The second installment of Victor V. Gurbo and Mark Caserta’s “the Quarantine Sessions.” This double contains two unreleased home recordings, created during the COVID-19 lockdown. The first track, titled “Ghost Woman Blues,” is an original written by Victor V. Gurbo, and inspired by the work of Mike Flanagan – creator of the Netflix hits “The Haunting of Hill House,” and the “Haunting of Bly Manor.”
“A ghost can be so many things, like a smile or the melody you sing.” Written during lockdown, it’s fitting that Gurbo finds metaphorical significance in this spooky context. On Ghost Woman’s Blues he channels the aura of Bob Dylan as he reflects on realms of acquired paranoia. Real or imagined, those insecurities ran rampant at the height of the pandemic. Our loved ones all somewhere, doing something, or perhaps in the room with us, or so it seemed. Such a bizarre time deserves such a fitting tribute, and Gurbo delivers.
The outlook is more grim on the subsequent Black Rider. Its more dooming, but still poetically cinematic in how it reflects the affect of the classic folk singer, that wandering troubadour. In that manner Gurbo has more in common with the bygone folk singer than the modern indie folk vibe machine. He’s got some humor too. Cite the verse around 3:17 for context. He’s right too, it won’t matter on the other side. Enjoy your worldly delights. You can’t take them with you.
Victor V. Gurbo is featured on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 