Watchhouse, formerly Mandolin Orange, is the North Carolina duo of Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz. Now they return four years later with Rituals, this time producing in conjunction with Ryan Gustafson (The Dead Tongues). Their sound is moving even further away from the bluegrass of Mandolin Orange into dreamy folk music, with both musicians embracing a wider array of string instruments. They blend the electric with the acoustic, a combination that has long been at the core of their sound. The fully rounded sound, though, goes far beyond just the duo, as they are backed throughout by a full band of bassist Clint Mullican, drummer Jamie Dick, keyboardist Nat Smith, multi-instrumentalists Josh Oliver and Gustafson, as well as pedal steel player Matt Smith. Where the mandolin was once prominent, it’s now just one of many. Their sound is now layered and highly textured.
The album explores several existential themes, including identity, awareness, and the challenges of change, as well as the concepts of being fully grounded and having the confidence to face the future. Opener “Shape” with the teeming guitars of Marlin and Oliver along with Gustafson’s piano and Frantz’s fiddle sum up these thoughts in these lyrics – “there through the looking glass/the world, it moves so fast/and I’m in here holding on/to no future and no past.” “All Around You” explores the concept of home, suggesting that it’s always present in some way, regardless of whether one is physically there. Marlin imbues the tune with fine picking on four different stringed instruments, as well as the harmonium, while also taking the lead vocal. “Beyond Meaning” is another gentle song that ponders everything from his nearby lover to our place in the universe in that space between wake and sleep in the earliest morning hours.
Like many of these songs, the title track encompasses several ideas, ranging from smiling photographs that offer little indication of the true person within to a world moving so fast that we lose track of even our neighbors’ names, creating a sensation of loneliness. Marlin also emphasizes the importance of perseverance and staying close to those we love. “Firelight” is Frantz’s response to the previous. Set back to back, these are almost like an exchange of letters. Coming five tracks in, it’s refreshing to hear her on the vocal lead; the duo harmonies are as rich here as on any track. The mic passes to Marlin for the rather discomforting “False Harbors,” the notion that sometimes even love isn’t enough to sustain us. With Matt Smith’s pedal steel, the sound shifts slightly into dreamier territory, but not that of the hazy psychedelia of their last effort.
“In the Sun” is a prime example of their textured sound, with Marlin’s electric tenor guitar and piano blending nicely with Oliver’s banjo. Another slight shift occurs in “Glistening,” the only track featuring four-part harmonies, as Oliver and Gustafson join the duo in the steady, rolling tune, accompanied by instruments such as Frantz’s bouzouki and Marlin’s pump organ. Yet, these subtle shifts in sound and the various instruments employed still provide a string of songs that are far more similar than different, as the tempo rarely changes. One would think the two-part “Endless Highway” would offer two distinctly different sounds, but that doesn’t happen. The emphasis remains on the lyrics, which deal with how we approach change, ultimately resolving those challenges in a ‘we must go on, whether we like it or not’ attitude that leaves us with an empty feeling. The music is beautiful, often camouflaging the messages of the songs. To their credit, though, their songs lend themselves to multiple interpretations.
Closer “Patterns” returns the duo to its original sound, featuring mandolin and acoustic guitar with vocal harmonies in the forefront, in bluegrass mode. They may have been better served to embrace this simpler musical configuration with a few more. To their credit, they also go out optimistically, reveling in the beauty of what nature offers and the comfort of being together.
