Simple indie folk that spreads hopeful confidence.
“If you’re anything like me, you only care about America,” singer/songwriter Kevin Morby sang on his last album This Is A Photograph – underlining not patriotic ideas, but that his solo discography can be viewed as a musical map of the USA. A few examples: Harlem River stood for New York City, which said This Is A Photograph was supposed to represent Memphis. Little Wide Open now symbolizes the wide open spaces of the Midwest. “To be alone, just the two of us, in Middle America,” it says “Javelin”the album’s standout lead single.
Morby works with simple chord progressions into which he squeezes similarly simple vocal melodies. The fact that Little Wide Open is never boring is due not least to the crystal-clear production by Aaron Dessner (The National): He seems to have encouraged Morby to try out new touches of sound. This increases the exuberant highlight “100,000” to the immeasurable extent, all stops are being pulled out. For the first time, an album by Kevin Morby is not just based on gut decisions, but on risks.
Little Wide Open can be seen as a level-up, also thematically. The record is characterized by hopeful confidence – “When you fall you get back up and run” – and gratitude. When the world dries up once and for all, he’ll still be in love, sings Kevin Morby. And when he misses his beloved, he will write her poems. Those are good prospects.
