Dreamy, acoustic folk loops fill Long Beard’s debut track, “Porch”, off of her upcoming album Sleepwalker with a gracious beauty that refracts the feeling of love into a spectrum of emotions. New Brunswick-based singer-songwriter Leslie Bear has been releasing songs on her Bandcamp for over a year with two five-track EPs: Holy Crow and Ghost Graduation. Long Beard’s first-full length LP release, Sleepwalker will be released on Team Love Records (iji, Quarterbacks) in the fall.
“Porch” is a sincerely beautiful track in its raw vulnerability and subtle, driving emotion. A slow sadness flows throughout the song with lustrous guitar tracks and a wittingly plucked bass line from Tom Christine (of Quarterbacks and Fraternal Twin). Leslie Bear’s voice warbles at moments as if she was delivering an elegy filled of insightful observations. Her voice shivers: “summer rain brings your voice to my ear / I will stay up all night just to hear your voice.” Unique, tremulous vocals float above the emotional turns of “Porch” that tackle the infinite desires of longing and abstruse love.
Long Beard’s songwriting is akin to the sincere spirit of Cat Power and the emotional import of Mitski. Trebly, delicate picking of the guitar emulate a dark sense of intimacy and invitation into Bear’s private space. “Porch” seems to be the perfect track for a rainy-day affair as Bear croons, “the time it takes to grow old on your porch isn’t long enough.”
