New York – “Sometimes my heart and brain conspire / to set everything on fire / Just to stop the tyranny / of that minute hand on me.” On “Golden Wake,” Mutual Benefit ringleader Jordan Lee lays out his mission statement for the indie folk collective about as plainly as we could hope for. The song, which we identified in November as a new song that really captured our imagination, offsets woozy synths and a hesitant, hissing drum machine with smooth strings and striking lyrics. The song is very much indicative of the sound of Love’s Crushing Diamond, Mutual Benefit’s first proper LP released last month by Other Music Recording Co. Clocking in at just barely over half an hour but feeling somehow endless, Love’s Crushing Diamond truly does feel like an effort to “stop the tyranny,” to reject the rigidity of time in popular music and modern cities.
It’s no surprise that Love’s Crushing Diamond, despite its winter release, has been cropping up as a late addition to year-end lists. From the first listen, the record is disarming and enchanting. Because of its fingerpicked guitars and delicate vocals, it has garnered many a comparison to early Sufjan Stevens. Because of its continuous nature and warm lo-fi production, it has earned just as many comparisons to the work of Phil Elvrum and the Microphones. Another apt comparison might be the understated-yet-expansive 2007 Phosphorescent album, Pride. In the same way that the songs on Pride feel glued together by murky reverb and distant yelps, Love’s Crushing Diamond feels entirely continuous, stitched together by luminescent false violin harmonics and the warm crackle of intimate field recordings.
Jordan Lee is sometimes backed by other musicians and sometimes carries the Mutual Benefit torch alone. Press releases emphasize his moves from Ohio to Austin to Boston and finally to Brooklyn, where he also anchors the Kassette Klub label. Sonically, Love’s Crushing Diamond captures the expanding-and-contracting nature of the group, and it does not feel rooted in any particular place. Instead, it swells and deflates like a living, breathing thing. It opens with “Strong River,” a flurry of instrumentation that gives way to a single hushed verse. That same verse recurs at the end of the albums epilogue, the stunning “Strong Swimmer,” reminding us again of the bustle that Love’s Crushing Benefit works to resist: “the river only knows to carry on.” In between these bookends, we are treated to the gorgeous single “Advanced Falconry,” in which we “stare into the void and see a friendly face” and tasteful banjo is a welcome new texture:
Another highlight is the irresistible, harmony-soaked “C. L. Rosarian,” in which Lee tenderly coins the term “careless love.” The term also works as a characterization of the album as a whole. It is warm but never saccharine, sweet but never precious, cautious but never deliberate, careless but full of love. It is a warm album for the cold months, and a work of beauty that is timeless in every sense of the word.
Mutual Benefit will embark on a US tour in January and February before a stint of UK dates in the spring. For more of Mutual Benefit, visit them on Facebook and Bandcamp, or follow Jordan Lee (@mutual_benefit) on Twitter.
Photo By Jessica Lehrman
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