Serenity can be found in a lot of things: warm scones and tea, cooling plunges into a springtime lake, crisp white T-shirts straight out of the package. And then serenity can be found in new music that doesn't assault your ears and make your heartrate jump above its normal, slow-beating pulse. Though so much new music is garagey and quick to pass through, this Houndstooth track, “Thunder Runner”, is a golden, clean, masterfully laid track with bell-like guitar tones and a soft vocal. The likes of Loretta Lynn and The Carpenters come to mind in their ability to make us feel warm and clear and full of that serenity that's so rare, the kind that makes us listen to only vinyl for weeks on end. The moment when leadwoman Katie Bernstein asks “Should I stay or should I go?” is as powerful in its nostalgia as it is in its renewal. A crushingly effective guitar solo midsong caps off the beauty.
Houndstooth's debut record, Ride Out the Dark, releases on No Quarter Records on July 16.
