Style: ambient, shoegazer post-rock, compare to Brian Eno, Jonsi & Alex
Top Tracks: “Longest Year,” “One Another”
Closing out a difficult year that included the flooding of Marc Byrd’s (The Choir, City on a Hill) Nashville home, Hammock’s fourth EP (ninth album) is a soundtrack of loss and acceptance. It plays with contrasts like black and white photography, setting unusual dissonance (“Cruel Sparks”) against evocative hope (“One Another”) and sparse cello melodies against the broad, atmospheric wash of unrecognizable guitars. The wordless, beatless soundscapes are felt more than heard, but they can blur together with inattention. Consider this a 32-minute score for introspection—a cathartic winterscape with the stark yet peaceful beauty of leafless birch blanketed by snow.
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