Though the birth of the New Bums project came from an apparent antagonistic feeling between Donovan Quinn and Ben Chasny, you'd be hard-pressed to find a begrudging matchup so successful. The two make powerful, soft-lilting, and occasionally meandering folk whose successes are buried deep within their subtlety. On “Black Bough”, a song so slow and forlorn that it hits straight through to the heart, the impression of a single-hit piano note or an Italian-intuned guitar strum leave lasting marks on the song and our melancholic thoughts. There is an even a deeply earthed accordion that wallows along beneath the track, and something as heartfelt and troubled as this can hardly come from a pair with an unfortunate history.
Stream “Black Bough” below, then head to Drag City for preorders of the upcoming New Bums debut, Voices In A Rented Room, out on February 18.
