Blindfaller [LP]

Lean in to the Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) album, Blindfaller, and it's bound to happen. You'll suddenly pick up on the power and devastation lurking in it's quietude, the doom hiding beneath it's unvarnished beauty. You'll hear the way it magnifies the intimacy at the heart of the North Carolina duo's music, as if they created their own musical language as they recorded it. "We talked about the feel of each song and pointed out loosely who was going to be taking solos, but it was mostly a lot of fresh takes, a lot of eye contact, and a lot of nods and weird winks," says Andrew Marlin, who anchors the band with fellow multi-instrumentalist and singer Emily Frantz. As the duo's songwriter, Marlin sharpens his lyrical prowess here, touching on broad themes of growing older and feeling helpless in a world torn by injustice. Sure, the album sounds classic, but it is rooted in the here and now of our daily headlines.