One of the most interesting albums crossing my path last year was Hinterland by Thirty Steps to Forward, a Michigan-based duo starring siblings Gretchen and Seth Powers. Sounding wonderfully out of place and time, the disc, which marked the twosome’s sophomore effort, was rooted in a format so musically and technically quaint and spartan that it indeed marched to its own beat.
Thirty Steps To Forward’s first album, 2009’s The Bird and The Fool, is still available and enjoying a bit of a renaissance, so if you missed it when initially released, here’s the opportunity to hear it now.
Gretchen’s songbird vocals, which are perched somewhere between those of Nina Persson of the Cardigans and Stevie Nicks, are featured on the majority of tracks on the album. Her sweet and girlish timbre is the ideal accompaniment to the strummy guitars surrounding the locale. Songs like “Respectively Swollen,” “Nervous,” “The Great Fall,” and the title cut of the record focus right in on Thirty Steps To Forward’s flair for coaxing blunt but atmospheric melodies from bare-bones arrangements and turning them into peerless works of art. Seth’s deep and robust croon appears on a pair of tunes, “Bought A Ticket For A Plane” and “Angel Song” that rank as further picks to clicks on the album.
Alight with transcendent moments, The Bird and The Fool is an accomplished set of stripped-down folk pop. Park yourself in a comfortable spot and close your eyes while playing the album and allow yourself to be transported into an alternate realm. Warm, tranquil, and making do with minimal fuss, The Bird and The Fool is immaculately alluring.
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