Album Review

The White Album – Conquistador

• 5th Oct 2012

The White Album are the latest beautiful alt-folk export from our friends across the sea in Norway. Recorded in a cabin in the woods, there’s a suitably Nordic-winter feel to this collection of heartbreaking acoustic tracks that seep gently under the skin and float you away from the snow-filled wilderness to a warmer place.

Fans of Jose Gonzalez, Fleet Foxes and Bright Eyes will feel right at home with the dark and haunting melodies wielded masterfully throughout the EP, laying a soft blanket of melancholy over delicately crafted intertwined string arrangements and twee, ramshackle folk hoedowns. Opening track ‘Counting Treasures’ is probably the EP’s highlight, as it bubbles with an underlying sorrow that threatens to grab the listener’s heart in both hands. Acapella barbershop track ‘Trenches’ is a welcome surprise and provides a timely break in the proceedings showing another side to the creativity of the impressively bearded trio, and there’s a retrospective nostalgia to ‘Seasons End’ that could see it quickly becoming a seasonal favourite.

This is a wonderful, earthy release that though short shows plenty of depth and experimentation with what can often be a tricky genre to revitalise. If you’re feeling winter nipping at your heels, stoke that fireplace and invest in Conquistador – this is a winter warmer guaranteed not to disappoint.