Belle Adair
The Brave and the Blue
Single Lock Records
Street: 08.27
Belle Adair = Iron and Wine + My Morning Jacket / Peter Bjorn and John
Belle Adair bring some soft, dreamy folk tunes with their first full-length. The Brave and the Blue sounds like it was recorded inside of a dream you’d have while you nap in a flowery meadow. Once inside the sonic dreamscape, you find influences like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty there to greet you, along with the bright, sleepy guitar strums and lazy pedal steel guitar. Frontman Matt Green has an inviting voice that walks you into slumber land with interesting vocal effects and calm, balanced refrains. Each song is solidly written, and the production quality is excellent (though the bass could be louder). But, just because it’s soft and slow doesn’t mean it’s boring. The songs are engaging and build dynamically—it’ll calm the beast in the fieriest of hearts. Pour some sweet tea, prepare for cool breezes on the porch and invite Belle Adair along—you’ll be glad you did. –CJ Morgan