Thistled Spring

Artist: Horse Feathers
Label: Kill Rock Stars/Stomp
Website: myspace.com/horsefeathersmusic

Portland (Oregon) folk outfit Horse Feathers are back with their third album Thistled Spring and it challenges their sophomore effort House with No Home [2008] to be their best.

Justin Ringle just has one of those voices which oozes passion for his cause, as he can tell a story with both an upbeat outlook and a restrained anguish that makes the listener hold onto each dangling note. Thistled Spring expands on the groups overall sound, as it contains a much more textured instrument approach, while keeping the "at the right moment" lush harmonies intact.

Lyrically, you couldn't ask for much more, as Ringle explores broken relationships, distance, waiting and pain but ties it all together with the season as Thistled Spring's songs consistently emerge out of the darkness into the day light. At the end of the record, your outlook, as well as Ringle's, is much better and you will want to experience Thistled Spring again. It is an album that is full of intimate quiet moments of space that explode with memorable harmonic charm and never let the record dull.

Horse Feathers flex their musical experience here on Thistled Spring and give you the most confident album of their career.

Christopher Anthony

For more of Christopher Anthony's music reviews, check out The Fire Note