Michael Feuerstack

There's a sense of directness on Michael Feuerstack's latest album, Tambourine Death Bed, from the abandonment of his previous moniker (Snailhouse) to the stripped-down motif of his minimal folk sounds. Tambourine Death Bed is the handwritten, personal letters we crave in a world of digitalized, characterless e-mails. The intimacy of Feuerstack's keen observations, whether in the flowers that grow in a city or the striking fact that "you're too young to be so old," hits listeners square between the eyes without any overcomplicated arrangements clouding the powerful significance of his lyrics. The record is constructed with layers of subtle detail and collaborative hands in the mix, including the Little Scream's Laurel Sprengelmeyer's voice wonderfully intertwining with Feuerstack's on "Flowers in the City" and "Bones in the River." Feuerstack might have shed his Snailhouse moniker, but his lyrics and understated songs are still blanketing us with the warmest of words and feelings.