The New York-based band american poetry club has released a pair of new songs on heavenly creature records. The first of the two is “walking song”, which greets us with a repeating guitar riff, and rhythmic drums accented by handclaps, and an undercurrent of warm swelling of keys. When the vocals and the occasional trumpet join in it feels like an awkward, yet welcome embrace from a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. Keys and guitars switch off on the instrumental passages to create an angelic and meditative moment between verses. The tender love song ends with an endearing chorus of voices reassuring the addressee “I will always love you”.
The song flows nicely into the contemplative “our apartment 2”. Lines are traded among the band’s various vocalists until they all join together to cry out a refrain for a wayward loved one, reminding them “every brick needs a cornerstone”. Each time the refrain is repeated, a new layer is added (a vocal harmony, guitar line, trumpet) until an entire emo-orchestra is formed by the end of the song.
This heartful and moving set of songs is out now via Scotland’s heavenly creature records.
Written by John Brouk