Nate Henricks – Crownleaf Chorus
8.8.16 by J Moss

“Crownleaf Chorus” is the seventh cassette release from prolific digital/visual/recording artist Nate Henricks, and the third on the excellent Patient Sounds label (he’s also let go two digital albums since the April release of this cassette). This tape is a departure from the frenzied cut-and-paste style of past releases. Albums such as “Neon For No One” and “Quest For The Obsolete Egg” functioned as hyper-speed internet-era aural collages, uninterrupted streams of sonic imagery, found sounds, post-punk grinds, and brilliant shards of psychedelic pop melody that shattered like mirrors into chaos. In contrast, “Crownleaf Chorus” is an album of twelve concise, discrete folk rock tunes, bright with mandolin and fiddle, a love letter to more subtle influences such as the pastoral hippy barn rock of the 60’s/70’s and the wry, soul-searching indie folk of the early 00’s.

The album has an an overarching vibe of saying goodbye to a loved one that you will see again but not for a long time. It’s melancholy and bittersweet through twists and turns, verses like rivers, mountainous choruses, and mournful tunnels. The most upbeat parts of this album are like driving alone; you’ve said goodbye but at least you’ve got the open road ahead of you. The emotions expressed in the songs tend towards sorrow but you can feel the joy that comes from making the music, sliding into the vibe like the seat of a beloved car. Traces of the experimental nature of Nate’s past releases remain. During the track, Lost Distance”, a mellow jam featuring slide guitar, there is a glitch as if your tape deck malfunctioned. Each song after that trades in more of its folk rock corduroy for 90’s drop-out denim and deeply layered guitar solos. The closing track, Everything Is Wrong, brings things full circle with strumming mandolin, that alt-country bass-bass-snare, and a minor key fiddle riff, but in the final seconds, a marimba type sound assumes the melody and becomes the last thing you hear, a surprise ending.