The Acorn - No Ghost

Drawing comparisons to Talking Heads to Talk Talk, Bon Iver to Fleet Foxes, Ottawa's The Acorn, led by frontman and creative lead Rolf Klausener, emerged in 2007 with one of the year's best albums: the biographical folk/song cycle Glory Hope Mountain. Named by Elbow's Gus Garvey as his favorite album of the year, Glory was awash with four-star raves with Time Out calling it a "magnificently touching achievement." Following an extensive worldwide tour, Klausener and band retreated to a rural cabin in Northern Quebec last summer to begin work on the songs that would be come No Ghost, set for U.S. release September 7 (Bella Union).

Amidst the isolation of the woods and freed of the more personal direction of Glory Hope Mountain, an album that made the life of Klausener's mother it's central theme, The Acorn found renewed inspiration in the musical camaraderie. A compelling, stirringly off-center mix of bluesy, acoustic folk melodies and dark, frayed Americana edge, No Ghost drifts in a spacious dream-like state amidst the occasional twinkling frosting of ambient noise and electronic blips. The hushed shuffle and cacophonous jangle of "I Made the Law", gentle strums and soaring vocal harmonies of "On the Line" and stately piano fills of the Byrne-esque album opener "Cobbled From Dust" just begin to scratch the surface of an album rich with detail and thoughtful, unpretentious touches. Highly recommended.

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The Acorn - "I Made the Law" (from the album No Ghost)

The Acorn - "On the Line" (from the album No Ghost)