Vetiver: "Rolling Sea"

When I was going through my awkward freak-folk phase Vetiver was like a shining beacon of tight musicianship in a sea of bad beards. Of course, like many a beacon of tight musicianship before them, they did a couple of covers albums and started coasting on their ability to actually play songs they didn’t write. Next thing you know you’re headlining at the Soaring Eagle Casino.

So I was pretty suspicious of Tight Knit, coming off of a prolific, year-long descent into dad rock. What immediately caught my attention was the awesome cover art—a simple, appealing amalgamation of the stars, ocean, forest, etc., into the rough shape of a LP. Tight Knit? Hell yeah. And the album backs it up properly. While “Rolling Sea” might not have the heartbreaking melody or deviously ingratiating pop structure of earlier high points like “Maureen” or “Been So Long,” it has elements of both, tucked into chiming acoustic plucks, and Andy Cabic’s unassuming, decidedly Indie (read: non dad-rock) voice.

There might not be a pop gem tucked inside here, but the hard-earned contentment of the laid-back arrangement grabs the ear anyway. Perhaps Vetiver’s year long excursion into our collective back catalog made them realize some heavy philosophical shit about the unity of consciousness and the symbolism of vinyl. Whatever it is, I want to be on board to find out.