Description
The Warbler is the sophomore solo album by the American singer, songwriter, session drummer, and producer Steve Hindalong of The Choir fame, Kickstarter-funded and independently released in June 2016.
There are very few bands I feel the same devotion to in my forties as I did in my teens. But one of them – perhaps the most important of them – is the Choir. Buying Circle Slide, their extraordinary fifth album, on a whim at Bibles, Books and Things is one of the best musical decisions I have ever made. For 26 years the Choir has soundtracked my life, draping it in gorgeous sounds and thoughtful spiritual insights. The voice of Derri Daugherty singing the words of drummer Steve Hindalong has pulled me through many a dark time.
In many ways, the Choir is the antithesis of most heavy-handed Christian music. Hindalong writes about his life, seen through the prism of his faith. He never preaches, and when he hits you with a message song (like «It Should Have Been Obvious» or «The Word Inside the Word»), the message is one of love, acceptance and grace. If more Christian music were like the Choir, I would like more Christian music.
It’s a great time to be a Choir fan. Since 2010, the band has been on a roll, giving us four swell albums (including Shadow Weaver, one of their very best) and a just-released definitive live album. Daugherty released an instrumental ambient album, and has a new solo album coming soon. (He’s also about to release two records with side project Kerosene Halo, and I’ll get to those in a couple weeks.) And now, for the first time in nearly 20 years, Hindalong has made a solo album. It’s called The Warbler, and it’s a thing of beauty.
Hindalong spoke at AudioFeed about songwriting and his life in music, and one thing he kept returning to was friendship. He’s been making beautiful sounds with his friends for more than three decades, and both of his solo albums are like a who’s-who of this corner of the music world. Choir bassist Tim Chandler, Hammock guitarist Marc Byrd, his wife Christy Byrd, guitarist and organist Phil Madeira, cellist Matt Slocum, guitarist Lynn Nichols, singer Kevin Max and Steve Taylor’s guitarist Jimmy Abegg all appear here. The sound of this record is tremendous, full and rich and beautiful.
Hindalong’s voice takes some getting used to – it has a high, pinched quality that isn’t immediate. I’ve grown to love it over years of hearing it on Choir albums, and he’s evolved as a singer tremendously since his first solo album. Here he sings with confidence, sounding better than he ever has. He rises to the challenge of the full-blooded music here, but even when he’s surrounded by very little – just acoustic guitars and a few embellishments on «Into the Drink», for example – he delivers. I’m predisposed to be on Hindalong’s side, but I quite like his voice on this album, more than I expected to.
It’s the songs that win the day, though. Hindalong dug deep here, setting some of his most beautiful melodies to some of his most personal lyrics. There are barbed love songs (“I need more sorrow like I need more bad religion,” he sings on «Love You Bad»), odes to old friends («O Jimmy A», one of my favorites), prayers for healing («Shellie’s Song»), promises of devotion («That’s How It’s Gonna Be», «For a Lifetime») and moments of contentment («Lucky and Blessed»). I would say it’s an uncommonly good set of songs, but this is Steve Hindalong, and for him, it’s not uncommon at all.
There are some exceptional moments on The Warbler, songs that rise above the already high standard. «Oblivious» is the first of those, a gorgeous drawl with lovely harmonies by Christy Byrd. “Sorry lovers caught in a rain storm, oblivious to the thunder, deaf to the cannon roar…” It’s a world-class song, one Jason Isbell would have been proud to write. It’s an abstract piece, in direct contrast to another amazing moment, «Into the Drink». This spare song takes an unflinching look at Hindalong’s own alcoholism. He premiered this song a couple years ago at a Choir show I attended, and I’m so proud of him for including it here. “Blessed oblivion save me, morning sun be damned, the demon in my head won’t know me if I forget who I am…” It’s a brave piece of work, and a riveting song.
The Warbler ends with a pair of Choir songs, recast in new lights. The title track, originally released in 1996, is one of Hindalong’s best songs, and where it once rose and fell on Daugherty’s velvet guitar chimes, here it feels earthy, dark, down in the mud, looking skyward. Most of it is Hindalong and his electric guitar, but when the full band erupts to life a couple minutes from the end, it’s thick and unstoppable. Christy Byrd uses the backing vocals to correct a mathematical error in the original, too. «The Antithesis of Blue» first appeared on Shadow Weaver, an inversion of blues clichés celebrating true love. This version is a down-home hoedown, with Justin Cary on bass, Nichols on guitar and Abegg on banjo. It’s a fun way to end things, a total reinvention of a pretty cool tune.
Whenever I hear a new piece of music from Daugherty and Hindalong, whether together or solo, I think about how lucky I am to have even stumbled upon them at all. Twenty-six years of joy, with no end in sight, and it all grew from that one decision to try the lovely-looking record with the tire swing on the cover. Twenty-six years. Bibles, Books and Things is no longer in business, so I can’t go back and thank them for making this music available to a hungry 15-year-old. But I can thank Hindalong and Daugherty and every other brilliant musician I discovered by accident, just by being open to them. I listen to The Warbler’s rhapsody, and I can’t imagine my life without this music. [Andre Salles, Tuesday Morning 3 a.m., July 2016]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-warbler/1133729487)
CD tracklist:
01. Unparalyzed – 5:17
02. Not Thinkin’ Anymore – 4:26
03. Oblivious – 4:51
04. Love You Bad – 3:12
05. Lucky and Blessed – 3:31
06. That’s How It’s Gonna Be – 2:49
07. For a Lifetime – 3:13
08. O Jimmy A – 3:35
09. Shellie’s Song – 4:52
10. Cloudburst – 5:03
11. Into the Drink – 3:53
12. Outta My Mind – 4:14
13. The Warbler – 5:23
14. Antithesis of Blue – 4:34
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://thechoir1.bandcamp.com/album/the-warbler
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