Palmer T. Lee - Winebringer

Palmer T. Lee

​Winebringer
self-released; 2018

4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Palmer T. Lee who is one half of The Lowest Pair recently released Winebringer. The album is a stripped back acoustic, folk album. It's somewhere between Bright Eyes when they are a folk band and The Tallest Man on Earth. You can really feel the room on these recording as if you can fairly accurately predict as to where the mics were placed. It sounds great. The organic quality to the song creates the human connection that I think most of us hope to get when listening to music.

There is also just enough diversity on the album to keep things interesting in terms of instrumentation and mood. Things starts off contemplative and reflective with a ’60s bohemian folk vibe. The vocal melodies are arguably at their best and most poignant here.

“Aw Jeez” follows a similar emotional space but the strumming pattern is different. The wings of the album start to spread on “Fat Barred Owl” which adds some mandolin into the mix. ”Uneasy” felt like a centerpiece. It’s a gorgeous song with the most instrumentation yet. The warm strings feel like a comforting hug when you desperately need one and the vocals are heartfelt reflections on the human condition.

“So Between Eyes” strips things back with just guitar and vocals which felt like a good move considering the previous song. Next up is “Rice and Beets.” It’s the longest song coming in at seven minutes. There isn’t much movement on this song which seemed to be more about the lyrics and mood. Towards the end of the song he repeats the lyrics “And I had the strangest dream” till it fades seamlessly transitions into the organ. A beautiful transition.

“Moon You” is another song like ”Uneasy” that is full on instrumentation and notable vocal harmonies. The title track “Winebringer” strips things back again before “Fiddle Bow” takes you home with banjo, fiddle and guitar.

Two of the great things about vinyl is that it is a pain in the butt to skip tracks and pulling out a record from its sleeve and putting it on a needle is a process. When vinyl was the only thing people could listen to they usually just let it start from the beginning and let it ride. I hate to sound like an old man but that’s only the way of listening to music that captures the creative vision of the artist.

​These days songs are made into Spotify playlists and the instant access to million of songs that diminishes the attention in way where we don’t appreciate the art as much as we could. My point is to do yourself a favor with this album. Treat it like a vinyl record and just press play and listen. I’m pretty sure you will be happy you did.

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