Following on from their highly impressive mid 2020 release, ‘Petrichor’, multi-faceted alt-folk collective These Idle Hands have once again alighted onto the musical landscape with a sweeping, eleven track song-suite which goes by the name of ‘Meraki’.
Keeping with the previous albums blueprint of intriguing monikers, ‘Meraki’ translates to ‘doing something with soul, creativity or love, leaving a piece of yourself into what you are doing.’ And for baritone voiced front man and creative lynchpin Murray Webber, immersing fragments of oneself into the creative process is the pathway to salvation, his deep, resonant strains once again embedding themselves deep into the listeners consciousness long after the final notes of ‘Meraki’ have drifted off into the twilight.
The band’s trademark gothic tinged, rustic alt-country vibe remains their calling card, the ever-swelling collectives’ core sound embellished with tasteful lashes of violin, banjo, harmonica, piano and gorgeous female harmonizing, adding texture to Webber’s resonant timbre and song-writing presence. This release also sees guitarist Josh Morris step up to deliver co-vocal and song-writing duties on the tracks ‘Out To Sea’, ‘Wandering’ and ‘Everything’. The album was recorded under the expert eye of production maestro Scottie French (who also moonlights as the band’s drummer) at his Love Street Studios.
Thematically the album embraces themes of regret and rebirth, its blueprint laid bare on opening heartstring tugger ‘You Said You Loved Me’, which starkly illuminates the ruminations of a love turned sour across its scene setting duration.
‘Sunlight’ continues the theme of release within the shadows of regret and the knowledge of hindsight, with memorable lines such as “I remember you in sunlight, but seldom in a storm”, while impressive previous single, ‘Wandering’, is a wistful, stately ode to self-reconnection.
‘The Moon Is Low’ wanes on the horizon, coloured with a moving piano and violin backdrop, while ‘Josephine’ tweaks the tempo to a moody canter, its autumnal hues resplendent in evocative regret .. “and your eyes are the darkest I’ve seen, should have known if you’d stayed in this town, that things could have only worked out one way.”
The sweepingly sombre strains of ‘Love Won’t Let Us Go’ and ‘This Hill To Die On’ touch upon the aching, otherworldly vibe of grizzled Seattle legend Mark Lanagan (who sadly left this mortal coil at the time of writing).
On the albums final two numbers, ‘Stone Cold’ and ‘Everything’, the band plug into the more traditional strains of the alt-country realm, delivering a pair of spritely toe tappers, speckled early morning sunlight filtering through curtains as the dawn rises.
With ‘Meraki’, Webber and his ragtag entourage have delivered a movingly cinematic song suite, within which listeners unafraid to embrace their contemplative side will find much to treasure.