The eponymous album by St. Even may be your perfect solution to enduring the gray, rainy days of winter. It breathes the type of nostalgia that reminds you that with the right musical remedies, lazy days are the best thing about cold weather. The songs on this sophomore album are full of instrumental arrangements that are put together in orchestral fashion and all tied together with an acoustic guitar. St. Even’s voice carries a storyteller’s tone and the music behind it moves around in beautiful whimsy. It’s a combination of Greenwich Village folk and Fantasia making sounds extremely fitting to the Portland landscape.
The album starts out reminiscent of the various folk songs of the Magnetic Fields, complete with horn and string sections that move slowly into the music behind his vocal build ups. You can hear a variety of instruments such as trumpet, trombone, violin and piano. About midway through on the song “Really Real” beautiful female vocals shine through while melodic piano riffs dance in the background. And the piano keeps going on the bluesy track, “Don’t Hold Your Breath” while the words are sung like a Southern ballad.
In the end, all these songs are cultivated with folk roots and brought together with eloquent and classic songwriting. The music is perfect fitting for any kind of day, but especially nice with a warm cup of coffee on cold morning. – Colin Hudson