heather woods broderick - from the ground (2009)

The folk genre lost its populist edge a long time ago. Extending into the realms of psychedelic jams, indie rock, post-whatever, and a slew of other styles, it’s lost a lot of its original directness. At the same time it has gained a wide array of techniques and particular sounds that have often come to enhance its sincerity and power of expression, among other things. Heather Woods Broderick’s debut is a very fine example of folk breaking apart classification and wandering into the territory of music-as-is. Not in a formal, modernist sense, but in a sort of experience where the name of the genre is almost devoid of meaning; it’s now only a reference to mere moments within the music that quickly fade away and morph into something else entirely as the seconds pass – an ambient part transforms into folk, which in turn transforms into chamber music, and so on. (from the silent ballet)