[rating=8.00]
Solace is a difficult thing to come by in this world, what with conflict, politicians and pontificators seizing the spotlight to the detriment of everything and everyone else. So credit Little Silver with taking on that need for serenity with a debut album that’s as calming and beautiful as anything anyone could imagine. Soothing and sublime, calming and caressing, it’s a gentle lullaby of a record that amounts to nothing less than a much needed restful respite from these troubled times.
Centred around the serene sentiments and hushed harmonies of husband/wife duo Erika Simonian and Steve Curtis, Somewhere You Found My Name, offers a hazy glimpse of life’s larger possibilities, offered optimistically but in reassuring ways all the same. The songs are supposedly drawn from real life scenarios, although it’s the overall lilt and a dream-like sway that first capture attention. Ethereal arrangements and a slow drift pervade the effort overall, and it’s only on occasion — which comes courtesy of songs such as “One Stepper,” “Fall From Me” and “Anytown” — that any uptick in energy is easily discerned.
No matter though. The dreamy air of iridescence that wafts through “The Luckiest Thief,” “Longest Days of the Year,” and “Ghosts Of This Town” is enough to induce a serene state of mind, all billowy and delicate as if intended to accompany a mild midnight seance. Sleep sometimes seems the key objective here an imaginary voice, but happily, the assurances are given with peaceful and passive intents rather than the malevolent urgings of those seeking to take undue advantage of those in repose. Indeed, these are songs that confront today’s darker designs and do so in a way that’s both assuring and alluring. Little wonder then that the end results are so serendipitous indeed.
