Evening Hymns – Quiet Energies
Quiet Energies is unassuming; a slow-burning, spacious album documenting grief with dignified melancholia. Jonas Bonetta has regrouped his band for a follow-up to 2012’s Spectral Dusk, and the resultant eight tracks develop his indie rock with country leanings, which is designed to be, as Bonetta professes, “a road trip album, a driving album.”
It’s one thing to listen to a man’s story-telling of personal and emotional journey – but Quiet Energies might not be the ideal soundtrack to a long, lonesome drive. Bonetta’s mellow lyricism veers into nasal, piping territory – sometimes in ways that'll tug on your tear-ducts, sometimes in a manner that could well irritate if you were trapped behind the wheel for a prolonged period.
If I Were A Portal is expansive, hymnal and the subsequent Evil Forces feels its jauntier brother – perfect for Petty-inspired dusty horizons. But, by the third number, you realise there’ll be little variety to spice up this ride; Evening Hymns create a nurturing, haunting space but are reluctant to burst the bubble with an emotional climax, or even a bend in the road. [Katie Hawthorne]