Autumn is now upon us. I missed my biennial chance to stand an egg on its end this Saturday in favor of taking the Boston subway out to the beach to enjoy one of the last warm weekends we're likely to have this year. One of the things I miss most living in the city is being able to watch the leaves turn in fall, when New England's hillsides burst into brilliant, fiery displays and then slowly fade to brown.
There are certain albums that just seem right for fall. They have that airy quality to them-- warm, but you can feel the first brisk breezes blowing in the melodies. One of the great autumn records is Archer Prewitt's White Sky. Everything about it suggests the time of year. But last year, the Kingsbury Manx's stunning debut album-- a swirl of placid folk, downplayed country, psychedelic flourishes, and gorgeous harmonies-- joined my mental autumn records list. This year, they're back with another helping. And just in time for the season.
Let You Down opens with the title track, stuffed full of warm, lopsided guitar licks in the main verses and chilly instrumental breezes in the intervening sections. The rich earthtones of "Porchlight" and "Simplify" carry you gently to the rustic, banjo-enhanced folk of "Et Tu, Kitte?" The spare production of the track breaks up the easy flow of the rest of the songs nicely, and also serves as perfect foil to "Rustic Stairs," which includes a subtle synth undertow.
Little additions to their sound like this are apparent all over Let You Down, as the band expands their palette to include things like the Moog lines on the excellent "Courtyard Waltz," which, though not actually a waltz, is one of the best songs here. The lilting verses give way to a roiling midsection, climaxing in a shower of noise that towers over the rest of the album's gently blowing passages like the first blizzard of the year.
In their two albums, the Kingsbury Manx have managed to craft a sound for themselves that's unique, if not particularly innovative or new. They opt for craft over invention, a strategy that paints them as one of the finer products on the modern folk-rock shelf. Those tumultuous clouds gathering on the cover appear on the album, as well, though it's more often in the lyrics than the music.
Change is evident nearly everywhere on this album, usually in the form of a relationship ending. Stubbornness prevails over common sense on the title track, which opens with the lines, "You were always coming 'round/ But I've found that I'm always gonna let you down." For the most part, though, lyrics seem mostly secondary, as the band usually lets the music set the mood.
With Let You Down, the Kingsbury Manx have created a very likable second album that rather perfectly captures the falling leaves and southward migrations of autumn in its somber chords and crystalline harmonies. It's questionable whether or not the band will ever make the big leap into new musical territory, but as long as the albums keep coming this good, I won't mind a bit if they stick to this formula.
