Carissa's Weird

The aptly titled They'll Only Miss You When You Leave is a collection of songs by one of those bands that would have been forgotten if it wasn't for what happened after. Following the demise of Carissa's Wierd, Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell went on to form Band of Horses and Grand Archives, and suddenly everyone wanted to know what they'd been up to before. And to be perfectly honest, there are moments on this compilation that are better than anything either of them has done since. While both their current bands produce fine moments, there's something more complex about Carissa's Wierd that made it easy to ignore them the first time around ― the songs are predominantly downbeat and quiet, and unless listening very closely, it's easy to miss the hushed longing and fragile emotion they capture so beautifully. It soon becomes obvious that Carrisa's Wierd aren't Band of Horses ― this is very much Brooke's band, along with Jenn Ghetto, and the interplay between their voices is the foundation that most of the songs are built upon, along with a healthy dose of strings. Amidst all the introspection and angst is a sense of humour, apparent in titles such as "The Color That Your Eyes Changed with the Color of Your Hair," which prevents the tracks from getting crushed by the weight of the world they carry on their shoulders. This is a truly wonderful and essential collection.