US AND THEM – … And I Observed The Blue Sky (2022, LP/CD Withdrawn Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Withdrawn Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Digipack

Release Date: 24 Sep 2022

Since 2005, the Swedish folk duo Us And Them, have released 4 albums and 8 Singles (if I’m not mistaken). “… And I Observed The Blue Sky” is their 5^th album, coming 4 years after their 2018 “On Shipless Ocean” and marking their “return” to Withdrawn Records, which is the label that released their first album and some CDR-Singles…

“… And I Observed The Blue Sky” contains 11 dreamy acid-folkie songs with great storytelling, warm and beautiful female vocals by Britt Ronnholm, acoustic guitar by Anders Hakansson, and some keyboards (on 3 tracks) by Per Lindblom. The album takes off with “When Wonder Comes From”, with a dreamy, serene acoustic-like, and folkie (of course) sounding. “Looks Like It’s Clearing Up” has the same soundscape but now the lyrics and the whole attitude are a bit more optimistic. “Evening Song” is drenched in some after-midnight mysterious Psych melancholy while “(Here I End Up) When I Dream” has a beautiful atmosphere created by the acoustic guitar and the sweet female vocals, making you reminisce some of the greatest folkie voices of the past. “In Bude” is a happier and faster tune but without losing the fragileness of the duo’s characteristic sound. “In Between Times” comes in the same acoustic folkie vein and the glorious “Fogwalking” follows, with a quite interesting and adventurous background, becoming trippy at times without avoiding the flirt with some related Psych patterns… “A Blessing Or A Curse” is another cool folkie track, psych-flirting too. On “August Evenings” the band presents an excellent sample of Neo-Folk, a beautiful and quite acid-flok song. Eventually, the album closes with “Decline”, a wonderful Neo-Psych Folkie tune, that confirms that the duo of Us And Them are true “continuators” and “ambassadors” of this idiom (you may call it sub-genre) that started growing at the end of the 60s and with slow and steady steps, continues to grow and mature to this very day… All aficionados out there, come aboard… TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist