Rivulets 'You Are My Home'

I almost fell asleep to this album on the train. This is not a criticism.

'You Are My Home' is the third album by Rivulets, who are really singer-songwriter Nathan Amudson and assorted helpers. I purchased this on the advice of one of those record shop recommendation cards, which said something along the lines of 'if you like Low, Will Oldham, Red House Painters etc, you will like this'. I'm well aware that this usually means the band concerned were influenced by the artists listed and, in fact, the record in question is nowhere near as good as theirs' but I thought I would give it a go anyway. I'm pleased I did.

The sound is extremely minimal, sparse and cold. Amudson has a soft, wistful voice which blends nicely with acoustic guitar and this is the predominant sound of the record. Opener 'Glass Houses' offers a nice melody following this template. That would get dull over the course of an album though and things are kept interesting with the interventions of electric guitar, noise and strings. On the title track and the excellent 'Motioning' both are used to good effect to build songs and create menace and tension. On the second half of the album, things become more accessible with a couple of shorter, catchy numbers.

This is a likeable album. Returning to my near-sleep experience on the train, the quiet noise and nagging acoustic picking of the title track, combined with the slow motion of the train and my new Sennheiser headphones blocking out all sound from the outside world created something of a fuzzy blur around me and with my head resting on the window and everything around me fading away, my eyes closed and.....the train jolted to an unexpected halt at Kentish Town. Oh well.

Anyway, this is a nice album if you like sparse, cold songs, perfect for a Winter's morning. Of the artists mentioned on the record shop card, this is most like very early Low.

7.0

['You Are My Home' is out now on O Rosa]