Rissi Palmer, August Ponthier, and Ratboys lead the week.
August Ponthier
Everywhere isn’t Texas
The kind of record that’s an antidote to the stuffy greige of the previous decade-plus of Americana, and hallelujah for that. Unapologetically queer, subversive, and funny— and a great singer, too– Ponthier makes an auspicious and distinctive debut here.
Larry Fleet
Another Year Older
Of note, his album from just last year was significant for how he avoided the belligerent jagoff trappings of other fellow conservatives in the mainstream country space. Now, he leans far harder into “can’t we all get along” false equivalences that lack real world nuance.
David Huckfelt
I Was Born, But…
His allyship for Indigenous causes remains as much a distinguishing feature of his work as his raspy, world-weary voice. The writing here isn’t quite as sharp song-for-song as on his previous album, but his POV is an important one in the contemporary folk space.
Rissi Palmer
Perspectives [EP]
Two ace covers and two even better originals might not be enough to capture everything that makes Palmer such a treasure, but it sure makes for a welcome return. Her singing here is so effortlessly great, and she packs so much wisdom, genre know-how into this set.
Ratboys
Singin’ to an Empty Chair
The sound is mid-00s alt-country– I hear the short-lived Only Children, and Amen to that– while the songwriting POV is a precise, generation-specific brand of mid-20s neurotic and self-doubt. If they’re this year’s breakout from this space, it’ll be well earned.
John Craigie
I Swam Here
The writing isn’t as subversive as his very best work, but the aesthetic pivot here into an “early My Morning Jacket” sound is a very easy sale, and one that suits both his narrative and singing voices quite well. “Edna Strange” is one of 26’s best singles, too.
Jana Horn
Jana Horn
A nadir for Gen Z indie folk, this set takes minimalism far beyond its utility as a medium for compelling narratives. The monotony of the arrangements make the brief album feel interminable, and Horn’s mumbled, often off-pitch vocals don’t scan as intimate so much as bored.
Elles Bailey
Can’t Take My Story Away
As ever, the selling points for Bailey are her fantastic, raspy voice– a natural fit for contemporary blues– and her unapologetic feminist POV in a boy’s club genre. Still, there’s a formal conservatism to her sound that, while technically accomplished, is limiting.
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