Doug Hoekstra
Waiting
Paste
Doug Hoekstra, the crown prince of contemporary Brit-leaning pastoral folk-pop, has made his most intimate and attentive album to date. Recorded at home during his wife’s last months of pregnancy, the album title seems to refer as much to this music’s silent unfolding as it does to Hoekstra’s family life. The multi-instrumentalist performs most of the music himself, but a couple of friends have been brought in for additional texturing – most notably Amelia White, whose terrific vocals on “Dark Side of a Pearl” provide one of the album’s most delicate moments.
The album’s title perfectly encapsulates the general mood of the album, one of held-back breaths and careful, precise movements. This is an unhurried and comfortable album, one that may certainly come across as a tad self-indulgent at first, but which will carefully creep up on you, if you decide to stay with it for a bit longer. Waiting proves Hoekstra remains a truly original voice among today’s singer-songwriters, one of folk music’s most vibrant and imaginative artists for close to a full decade now.
Paste Music: http://www.pastemusic.com/
