Keith Wood makes it look easy. Yankee Reality is the second Ecstatic Peace! release from his Hush Arbors in as many years, but his umpteenth this decade, from the same brother-can-I-lend-a-tapedeck school as Six Organs of Admittance and MV & EE and every bit as prolific and collaboration-friendly. His voice-- a gentle, reedy, wafting falsetto reminiscent of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon or TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone-- emotes nimbly, with little apparent effort. His music, a mostly laid-back blend of all sorts of rusty Americana, rarely causes a racket; hushed, you see. And he and the Arbors have made a leap from last year's self-titled affair that feels markedly deliberate and completely natural.
With help from another guy who makes what he does look easy-- Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, who produced and plays on the LP-- Yankee Reality does its predecessor a few better in the song department", and then close it with to "For Reality, Wood brought in 10 appealing agile country-rock leaning yearners, then he and Mascis went to town on 'em; whereas a good chunk of Hush Arbors' past work got by on a lot of impressionistic detail, for a genial, unhurried folk record, Yankee Reality feels pretty direct. Yankee Reality's a confident but freewheeling set of finely tuned heartbreakers dressed up in rollicking arrangements that aren't allowed to run riot over the tunes.
Things get off to a nice start on brief spindly strummer "Day Before", brighter and busier than anything on Hush Arbors, imbued with an affecting lilt and lent further warmth once Wood gets to singing. Riding a standup-slap bassline, the searching "Lisbon" smacks of a properly medicated Okkervil River, while "Fast Asleep" shuffles and drones like a less maudlin Will Oldham number. Mascis makes his presence known with a few odd guitar stabs here and there, but he's at his best behind the boards, reigning in all the jerry-rigged instrumentation and keeping the spotlight on Wood's voice. Like Mascis, Wood's a bit of a mumbler, but his plainspoken lyrics have never felt so central to the music. And, while he'll occasionally lose you in a few too many swallowed syllables, every once in a while you get a ruminative road tripper like "that old highway in my life" or "wondering how many bottles have led me to here," and Yankee Reality's hazy essence rushes into focus.
There are a couple of moments on Yankee Reality that pass by without much notice, the warmth of Wood's voice and Mascis' enveloping production occasionally coming together to lull rather than linger. But on an album this mellow, a little balance is key to cohesion, especially when you get around to closer "Devil Made You High". It's a barnburner, blasting off into the stratosphere on the back of Mascis' racket and Wood's bleary, almost bluesy vocal. It's testament to what a fine pairing this is that they could pull off a tune like "Devil" and a tumbling rockabilly ballad like "Coming Home" with equal success and, more importantly, ease. Wherever Hush Arbors takes Wood next, here's hoping he and Mascis run into each other again along the way.
