Jakob Olausson: Morning & Sunrise

Label: De Stijl

Fans of Six Organs of Admittance and the more haunted side of the acid-folk scene, this Swede's for you. Jakob Olausson is a farmer from the south of Sweden with a bracingly beautiful outlook on things, and the six-years-in-the-coming follow-up to his debut, Moonlight Farm, is the kind of record you'll want to keep close at hand during the wee hours of the night. This is the kind of loner folk you'd swear was a lost gem from the private-press '70s, some real last-man-on-Earth blues; that said, not only is this music not depressing, it's strangely reassuring: The opening "Don't Drown in Sorrows" comes on with layers of guitars and Olausson's deep, wizened vocals reaching into the well of sadness to pull you out. At times his singing dramatically pulls away from a song's melody, as on the mesmerizing "Riding on the Wind," but the force of Olausson's vision makes everything feel like it's in its exact place. Eight moving songs that will make you feel like you're alone with the singer, Morning & Sunrise will be a key album to help you push through the winter.