The New Year - Snow (2017)

It’s been nearly nine years since The New Year released any new music. But since the slowcore/indie-rock outfit dropped their last LP, The New Year, band members have stayed busy. Brothers Matt and Bubba Kadane worked on an outstanding comprehensive box set of music from their previous band, the seminal Bedhead. In 2013, they dropped a record as Overseas with compatriots David Bazan and Will Johnson. And the whole way through, they tinkered with and labored over a batch of songs for a fourth LP.

“Recent History,” the first song from the new album Snow, certainly has that gently and lovingly workshopped feel. The guitars, which steadily intertwine with one another throughout the song, don’t seem to play a wasted note. Chris Brokaw’s drumming is prominent but never intrusive, only playing fills to dot the song’s sparse landscape. If there’s a bass line to be found, it’s a wispy one. And vocals from the Kadanes don’t ever make it above a murmur. Hell, they don’t sing until the song’s almost half over, and the opening line, “There’s nothing wrong with the 21st Century,” doesn’t immediately grab you. They sound weathered, slowly eroded by the sands of time. But whatever time has subtracted has revealed more of The New Year’s craft.