The brooding, pastoral folk on the debut album from Melbourne man/band Husky is sure to break hearts.
Husky Gawenda of the band Husky - Photo By Ros O'Gorman
Like Bon Iver, Husky is as much a band as a man: Melbourne musician Husky Gawenda. And also like Bon Iver, his haunting folk laments are too good not to break through to the mainstream.
Husky as a band – Gideon Preiss on keys, Evan Tweedie on bass, and Luke Collins on drums – have come of age this year. They finished their exquisite debut Forever So and mixed it in Los Angeles with Noah Georgeson (who has worked on albums by Devandra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and The Strokes) late last year, but held onto it while talking to labels and bookers, then they won Triple J Unearthed, debuted the first single, and have finally put it out last Friday.
While we could certainly continue to nod to Bon Iver with the title (his first was For Emma, Forever Ago), Husky are more immediate in their refrains. The lead vocal skirts the heavens like Jose Gonzalez’s, folded together with dreamy harmonies, but the finger-picked hooks of almost every song (particularly ‘History’s Door’, ‘The Woods’, ‘Dark Sea’) make it memorable.
Forever So is a nouveau folk album with more pathos than your Mumford & Sons or Angus & Julia Stones, shares a nice touch of The Jezabels’ drama, and retains that hazy mountaintop scope imagined by Justin Vernon.
Check out the video to ‘Dark Sea’ and a stream of ‘History’s Door’ below. Forever So is out now through Liberation and they’re also touring the nation in November.
