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Babehoven
Water’s Right here in You
Double Double Whammy
Might 01, 2024
Net Unique
Coming off equal components celebratory and downcast isn’t the best of feats to drag off. However the duo of Maya Bon and Ryan Albert, working as Babehoven, handle to sort out that with an professional stage of aplomb. “Good to See You” arrives late on Water’s Right here in You and begins as a close to dirge, with a spiraling guitar line that tugs the listener even additional down. Bon deadpans over these opening notes, “It’s day, hey, hey, now, it’s good to see you.” Not precisely the scabrous “hey, hey, hey,” kiss-off of, for example, the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” however Bon’s lyrics do carry a heartfelt stage of positivity despite their supply and environment.
If “Good to See You” is the blueprint of the Babehoven ethos, Water’s Right here in You holds many attractive moments that springboard off these plans. The opening, “Birdseye,” captivates with Bon’s easy providing of “ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, too,” as Albert creates a palette of deeply blued and watery hues. Strummed guitars and Bon’s hovering vocal function a floor layer, whereas drums, bass notes, and strings sound as if they’re being broadcast from a mile beneath the swells of a stormy sea.
Devoted to sustaining a sonic sheen over the course of the album’s 40 minutes, extra ephemeral tracks just like the stream of consciousness of “Millenia,” or the superbly slight “Rocket,” function patches for the album’s grander moments. The boomy and indirect “Chariot” is among the yr’s greatest songs bar none. For all its seeming effort to glitter as onerous because the spaciest of Seaside Home songs, the duo subverts their album’s centerpiece right into a factor of heft relatively than of lightness. Although an oddly particular reference, Varnaline’s 1998 album Candy Life had the identical marriage to a temper that “Chariot” pulls off impeccably. Bon describes the waterlogged carriage of the title as “A chariot, a cherry, candy, spherical, and heavy.” Evocative as they arrive.
The peerlessly titled and paced “Dizzy Spin” makes for one more spotlight, whereas the lilting cadence of “Lightness is Loud” captivates as properly. The latter track hammers away with concrete descriptors of “coral, coral, snake, snake.” Whereas the folky nearer, “Ella’s From Someplace Else,” celebrates each Squirrel Flower’s namesake (Ella Williams) in addition to Bon’s childhood canine. And although there could also be fluidity in her topics, Bon’s lyrics are pointed and spare. “Ella takes me to the flatness of the loss,” says little, however conveys volumes.
Ella and the opposite denizens of Water’s Right here in You could also be from some place else, however Babehoven goes to take you there. Regular, surefooted, however with a heavy measure of hope and light-weight to information the journey. Babehoven’s dedication to a decent band through which to weave their spell gives some headspace for exploration. However Bon’s professional use of incontrovertible phrases and phrases retains the listener hemmed in and centered on the plain tone of the work. (www.babehoven.com)
Creator score: 8/10
Fee this album
Common reader score: 10/10
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