Buck’s Harbour knelt on the altar of humility in Stick Round, the sardonic heartstring-puller that closes out the debut EP, Figuring Out How To not Be a Jerk. By a lens fogged with hazy folk-punk heat, the Boston-based artist, recognized off-stage as Ethan Warren, channels the jangly soul of Americana into an inner monologue that spills out prefer it’s been marinating for years.
No music ought to sound this disarmingly mild whereas dismantling the worry that one’s quirks might tip the scales of affection. However Stick Round is aware of methods to gown a vulnerability wound with harmonies so Seaside Boys-esque you’d swear that they had pores and skin within the sport. Whereas the only roots itself within the bittersweet, it steers miles away from pretence. With a sonic palette tinged with melancholy but by no means moping, it lets the listener nestle into the type of emotion that hardly ever asks for permission to remain.
The lyricism spirals round self-doubt, hope, and the delicate dance of connection, but there’s nothing overwrought about it. With one hand in a lo-fi people pocket and the opposite scribbling in an indie diary of ironic quips and tender pleas, Buck’s Harbour proves that awkward emotional honesty will all the time be essentially the most touching flavour of cool.
Stick Round is now obtainable on all main streaming platforms, together with Spotify.
Evaluation by Amelia Vandergast