Album Review/ Acoustic Rock : Wyatt Espalin’s ‘Lies From The Lonesome Valley’
If you like a lofty sound, a sound that makes you feel expansive and full of beautiful space, then you’re going to love Wyatt Espalin and his musical spirit. Hailing from Appalachia, the artist has absorbed the landscapes, the vastness and the generosity of the place into himself. And it shows up in his music as well. There’s a carefree buoyancy, an atmosphere of abundance and a warm, intimate human presence that turns back to community.
His latest release is ‘Lies From The Lonesome Valley’, an album that tells the stories and lore from back in the day, in the spirit of the place, with the temperament and culture of the people.
The album opens with ‘Losing Track of Time’. It’s Americana that plays out with vintage style youth. The experience of getting carried away with love and all the consuming discoveries of youth. The instrumentals are a country orchestra. And the vocals, oscillating between past memories and present heartache is a pleasure to go with. Tracks like ‘Year of the Rabbit’ and ‘You Had It All’ have a similar energy build. Lively beats, mushrooming instrumentals and storytelling vocals that convey the emotion beneath it all.
Tracks like ‘The Cactus Sisters’ and ‘Under The Stars’ have roiling soundscapes. It’s as if the fabric of the sound is alive with the thematic emotion. The instrumentals lend a fluid canvas that beautifully takes form around the vocals. The voice, coarse, deep, and so vivid is the core of the soundscape. It emerges from an authentic space, you feel that power of experience and real emotion behind it all. Its ardent performance makes the theme feel personal, real and relatable.
‘Wishes In a Well’ and ‘The Valley’ are feeling tracks. With a free rhythm and a contemplative vocal tone, these are daydream songs. Songs that are beautiful to get lost in. To flow with it is to gain a landscape to fit into, a solitude to dive into and thoughts to slowly explore. It’s mellow, but the consequence of it feels so deep.
Across the album, the artist lays it all out, lets it all grow into the music and change it. It’s as if these songs were written in the course of feeling; feeling deeply. So they come in from layers, blending into each other like foliage. And the result is an enriched listening experience that gives you much.
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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music!
Check out ‘Lies From The Lonesome Valley’ by Wyatt Espalin here -
