For North Carolina folk duo Watchhouse, comprised of Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin, it all began over a decade ago in coffee shops and local restaurants. Now, they are one of the biggest success stories in 21st century indie music, headlining and touring legendary venues, and with Ritual are releasing their first collection of new, original songs since 2021.
The 11-song album beautifully explores boundaries between awareness and identity as well as themes of evolution and home and glows with the warm chemistry between the singers.
‘Shape’ and ‘All Around You’ both roll along on multiple layers of strings, plucked and strummed guitars and mandolins providing the backbone and a wistful violin lending flavours of country music. Thematically, ‘Shape’ sees the vocalists seemingly trapped in the moment without a future or past, trying to break free; conversely, ‘All Around You’ is all about motion, reflecting on how home is often viewed as a fixed destination, when really it is always where you happen to be.
Many of the tracks focus on the value of moments of stillness, quiet, and peace in a turbulent world and our busy lives: the thoughts and reflections that come in the calm hours of the night in ‘Beyond Meaning’, the fireside talks that root an otherwise troubled, rocky relationship in ‘Firelight’; ‘False Harbors’ emerging musically from the silence like the coast easing out of the mist; and the calm of the dawn conjured up by the gentle guitar line interspersed with birdsong and a gurgling stream in ‘Glistening’.
Light and dark are key themes in the tracks ‘Rituals’ and ‘In The Sun’. The former reflects on a seemingly perfect, blessed life, shaped and created by rituals and hard work – a blissful life that is repeatedly interrupted by a sudden instrumental swelling, catching us off guard as shadows rear their heads; and the latter sees the guitar bursting in as bright as the sun, enveloping us in a glowing summer haze as the vocalists lay out their dreams for a future together.
‘Endless Highway’ is split into two parts, the broad, pensive musical backdrop stretching into the distance like a never-ending brushstroke of asphalt. We are placed in the passenger seat of life, swept along and moulded by the experiences and people we encounter along the way.
We end the album on a rich, hopeful note, the mandolin accompaniment and lilting guitar lending ‘Patterns’ a real Little House on the Prairie feel and the beautiful soaring vocal harmonies embracing us warmly as Rituals bids us a fond farewell.