Michael Nau frontman of indie-rock mainstays Cotton Jones, Page France, and Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread releases his fifth full-length record, `Accompany` this month.
The album opens with `Sharp Diamonds` which is a dreamy quite melancholic slice of laid back Americana with some fairly haunting pedal steel hues allowing a kind of feeling of remoteness nigh on isolation. Slide guitar and a shuffling snare drum add a kind of tenderness to `Painting A Wall` a track that shuffles along but to me was delightfully captivating with vocals that had a sort of delicate pleading, beseeching texture.
`Tiny Flakes` was inspired by a family camping trip as the singer`s kids played in the woods nearby. A pretty stripped back reflective number with a continuous rhythmic under beat and harmonies giving the number a quiet, distant contemplative feel. A piano leads us into and through `Shiftshaping` a submission that sounds distracted and portrays a pictorial setting and story. The shuffling brushed drum and fluttering vocals add a further poignancy to this piece.
`And So On` is another reflective, introspective composition, simple but so effective in its delivery. There`s a stark beauty about `One Morning in Vibrato` with its deep and rich vocals. A number that gains musical volume and sensitivity as it evolves.
We enjoy some twinkling keys on the delightfully titled `Relearn to Boogie` a quite enthralling listen. A more eclectic song follows with `Accompaniment` with lingering pedal steel tones which allow a strangely atmospheric colour to be created while the vocals lead us by the hand on a diverse reflective journey.
I felt that `Comes to Pour` had a kind of sitting down with a friend as they tell you something important feel about it. It felt oddly personal and intimate. A sort of spacey come ethereal finesse and sensitivity comes with `Long Distance Driver`.
The album closes out with `Last I Looked` a further brooding, meditative but fascinating conclusive number.
Accompanying the singer to bring this opus to fruition were Will Brown on organ, Ken Woodward on bass, Matt Davidson on pedal steel, and Seth Kauffman on drums.
`Accompany` is an absorbing, engaging, minimal but at the same time expansive, strange but ultimately rewarding excursion. It has a deep tranquillity which leaves you with an infectious glow and has a delightfully understated beauty about it. I think you could listen to this album numerous times and experience something different on each visit.
Rating 8.5 /10
