​Watchhouse (from the album Rituals

​Watchhouse (from the album Rituals

​Watchhouse (from the album Rituals available on Tiptoe Tiger Music/Thirty Tigers) (by Bryant Liggett)
 
Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz pleased the ear as Mandolin Orange, and are equally appealing as Watchhouse. In their 16 years and nine album career Watchhouse have dropped catchy albums ensconced in Indie Folk while kicking around the festival circuit. The latest from the pair, Rituals, favors Folk music, while the duo ventures into exploratory and ambient desert noir as well as Laurel Canyon-Esque Soft Rock. 
 
Cuts like “Shape”, “Beyond Meaning”, and “Fireflight” feature key elements that have defined the Watchhouse sound since day one, featuring instrumental and song structure minimalism, one voice supporting the other with that vocal input doubled-up as Frantz’s turn at the microphone is layered on the latter cut.
 
“All Around You” has a playful bounce and subtle reverb that decorates the ‘ooh-oohs’ as Watchhouse sing of surroundings while working toward an end. The Rituals title track dips into a Root/Soul realm and “In the Sun” features meandering Psychedelic guitar work that lives within layers of other stringed instruments, drifting and exploring a NewGrass vibe.
“Endless Highway (Pt. 1)” continues those jam hints as it moves into “Sway/Endless Highway (Pt. 2)” showing Watchhouse isn’t afraid to throw themselves, and their listeners, a musical curveball. 
 
The album closer, “Patterns”, is a nod to traditional Bluegrass; a mandolin picked in Bill Monroe fashion before those vocals come in high and lonesome. Watchhouse are in a good place; comfortably curating the sound that fans have come to expect yet also offering a new and unexplored route, unafraid to take us along for the ride. (by Bryant Liggett)
 
Listen and buy the music of Watchhouse from AMAZON
For more information, please visit the Watchhouse website