New music for the summer haze

If you've noticed a slowing pace of updates these past couple months, you're right...and thanks for following close enough to notice!  I've been busy buying and moving into a new house, working (that is, my real job that I actually get paid for) and planning and preparing for the Newport Nightcap party.  Visible Voice has taken a bit of a backseat to real life.  Now, after a weeklong internet-free vacation I feel recharged and ready to share some great new tunes...

The War On Drugs' new record Slave Ambient is out, and I can't stop spinning it.  If you were a fan of 2008's stellar Wagonwheel Blues or the more recent Future Weather EP you need to pick this up.  Spaceman 3 dope haze meets Americana grit - a stunning collection of songs that is as obtuse as it is accessible.  The type of record that will blow your mind and clear your head all at once.

The War On Drugs - Come To The City

Grant Olsen's solo project Gold Leaves has been long in the making - four full years - but it has been worth the wait.  With plenty of time to refine and live in these songs, Olsen has created a collection that is as much inspired by 50s doo-wop as it is 60s psych-pop.  Sonically the songs seem to split the difference between Fleet Foxes and Beach House, a little bit folk and a little bit dreamy beach pop.  Really getting into this.

Gold Leaves - The Ornament

Widowspeak's single "Gun Shy" caught my attention a couple months ago and earned a spot on my summer mix tape.  Now the full LP is out and I have to say, I'm even more impressed than I thought I'd be.  There is a lot to like here - gritty, bouncy pop alongsidea brooding slow-burners that recall Sharon Van Etten and Cat Power.  You can't deny the Mazzy Star influence which I guarantee every review will cite, but I think Widowspeak can stand on their own.

Widowspeak - Nightcrawlers