There must be something in the water in the Midwest United States. Something that makes otherwise normal men declare themselves “bands” and begin recording wistful, folk influenced indie rock. Examples include Iron and Wine, early Sufjan Stevens, and now Peter Michael Miller, the man behind We are the Willows.

What sets We Are The Willows apart is that while Iron and Wine is one man underneath layers of instruments and studio work, and Sufjan Stevens is most recently one man and half an orchestra’s worth of backup, “A Collection of Sounds And Something Like The Plague” almost glories in the stark loneliness of one man, one guitar, and very little else. Single strings are plucked gingerly while Miller sings and hums with a high, breathless voice. The entire production sounds delicate, as though it could float away with a clump of dried leaves.

It’s that naked intimacy that really sells most of this album. Right on the first track there’s a lyric “What if I die tonight/will it be like going home, or just turning out the light?” In the hands of most bands those lyrics would have no choice but to be at least slightly ridiculous. Here though, you are engaged with the music on such a personal level that it works well. The same is true of “Norwalk Iowa” which does so much with the simplest tools to strike at the listener’s heart. It’s worth mentioning that this is not a totally bleak album either: while a wistful, quiet tone dominates, there are moments of bright sunlight with upbeat tracks like “The Sorry Psalter” or “Yellow Dress” which strike surprisingly optimistically with their profound lo-fi goodness.

This is probably not an album for everybody: Miller’s voice is definitely an acquired taste, and songs like “Trees in the Park” meander and swing so slowly that the listener really has to meet it half-way to discover what it has to offer. And if you have no patience for the reflecting and at times borderline morbid, then you’ll have no patience for this album, which is positively steeped in it. But songs like “The Sorry Psalter” and “Norwalk Iowa” are absolute gems for fans of introspective, rainy-day indie rock. [By: Ryan Simmons]
Rating: 3/5
Release Date: November 24 2009

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