Isbells - Self-Titled

Isbells
Isbells

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It’s not saying much to note that while Bon Iver’s success a couple of years ago was undoubtedly deserved, the whole ‘retreat-heart-broken-to-a-log-cabin-in-the-woods-and-pour-your-wounded-soul-into-sound’ thing certainly didn’t hurt. With their self-titled debut, Belgian folksters Isbells seem to have attempted to ride Mr Vernon’s wake with respectable, but hardly overpowering, results.

Leading man Gaëtan Vandewoude apparently wrote and recorded the material here in a ‘decrepit stable’ in the country, although the buffed Mr Sheen finish to the sound perhaps belies the mythmaking. A pity too, as a more lo-fi recording would perhaps have lent the songs a bit more character than they otherwise seem capable of mustering.

Not that these tracks are by any means bad; Vandewoude combines a crisply efficient picking style with simple but effective melodies, his sweetly soaring voice sitting somewhere between Bon Iver and Jonsi. Lyrically, he’s very much preoccupied with what sort of future the next generation are likely to inherit, with musings delivered in a simple and direct voice. “What do I tell my child / its future’s gone for life” he sings on opener ‘As Long As It Takes’ while squaring his jaw to the life of art – “I can’t change the world with melodies / but I’ll try” – on ‘Without A Doubt.’ Elsewhere things veer towards the saccharine: “a tender word and a sweet, sweet kiss / is what I need from you” he pines on ‘My Apologies.’

What irks me is that although the music compliments Vandewoude’s reflective tone, his insights aren’t terribly insightful – and what drama there is isn’t hugely dramatic. Together it makes Isbells is a peculiarly monotone listen… Sure is purty though.


First published in The Brag, Iss. 378, September 6th 2010