Review: ‘Horse Heaven Hills’

By Brittany Robinson
Music Reviewer

 
Released: Sept. 9, 2014
Label: Crow Moses
Website: http://musikantomusic.com/

Not too far from San Marcos you can find two large cities, Austin and San Antonio. Both with mile high skyscrapers, high volumes of people and highways congested with vehicles that spread from one side of town to the other.

But right outside of San Marcos it’s a different world. If you choose to take the road instead of the highway, you’ll see green grasses that spread from one small town to another. People turn into cows, lakes into cow pools, and instead of buildings it’s open space. It’s just you, a blue sky, dark green mountains and the serene nature of it all.

Crow Moses conveys a similar image with “Horse Heaven Hills.” This album evokes a place with lakes, houses on 20 acres of land and, of course, horses. Since life is simple, love is one of the most complicated things in people’s lives in the country.

Lyrically, the songs on the album consist of bluegrass dreams and how two human beings can find each other in a place with such few people, like in the song “Two Lone Wolves.”

Crow Moses, formerly know as Musikanto, is an alternative folk one-man act from Chicago. With his latest creation, he fashions a truly Americana compilation. Laced with imagery of the unique beauty of the American landscape, he gives us an album that would be perfect to listen to while on a trip to the Grand Canyon.

You wouldn’t have to make a playlist because the album covers all the basic requirements for a road trip mixtape. You will get that windows down, head out of the window, sing along, dance tune feeling with “Whatever You Wanna Do.”  And when the sun starts to go down after a long day of adventure and everyone in the car is fading in and out of consciousness, “Alone With Me” will make life feel like the ending of a very cliché coming-of-age indie film. It’s just you and your friends together reflecting on a day you won’t forget.

He takes a page out of the same book as his more well-known colleagues like Mumford and Sons and The Decemberists and creates his own noteworthy novel. Crow Moses provides a pleasant addition to the indie-folk music archives and will have you interested to see what he can come up with next.