Sand + Silence

Sand + Silence

The divorce of The Rosebuds’ founders, Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, made 2011’s Loud Planes Fly Low a tension-filled project, while 2014’s Sand + Silence plays like the settlement record. Crisp cowrote the songs, plays piano, and sings harmony, but the remaining duties fall to Howard, whose lead vocals tell the stories and whose guitars and keyboards are matched with a variety of other musicians adding to the overall sound. It still sounds like a modern-day Rosebuds album. The title track and “Give Me a Reason” sway in that forlorn evening light that’s been a specialty, while the production by friend and sometimes collaborator Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and BJ Burton brings that northern Midwestern chill. “Blue Eyes,” “Mine Mine," and “Death of an Old Bike” offer upbeat aggression that’s a break from the weightier sounds, but “Wait a Minute” returns to their default position with grace and beauty, but with a sense of somber reality that also guides the final trio of songs.

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