Description:	CD on O Rosa Records
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Alt. Country/Americana/Country Rock
	Label:	O Rosa
	Price:	£10.09
	Availability:	Sold out / currently unavailable. Sorry!

5
...according to our Clinton on 11 September 2008.

As with any album that sells more than 3 copies it seems that Bon Iver's 'For Emma, Forever Ago' will spawn a whole pile of imitators....melancholy bearded men strumming away in wood cabins....which actually is no bad thing but to call Rivulets an imitator is extremely unfair as main Rivulet Nathan Amundson has been honing his very delicate brand of lonely wintry folk for many years now. With 'You are my home' it seems that Amundson has finally struck gold as its a beautiful album of fragile guitar strumming and aching plaintive vocals and if me saying the words Bon Iver sells it a few extra copies then its no skin off my nose. Other comparisons would be Mark Kozelek and Amundsons fellow Minnesota dwellers Low. So with the credit crunch looming and the nights drawing in,  this is the perfect soundtrack to cold autumn nights alone in the house with only the desolate flicker of a candle for company.

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

What their label says...

"deciding what the 2008 Americana album of the year will be - that's the hardest game in the world, that is. Lovers of the gentler side of the genre have
already spent weeks wallowing in Bon Iver's reclusive For Emma, Forever Ago and the baroque harmonic pop jams of the Fleet Foxes album - and now
this. Rivulets is Nathan Amundson - born in Alaska, resident in the midwest - whose previous two albums appeared on Low's label. From this fact, you
will correctly deduce that his music is slow, quiet and spine-shiveringly gorgeous (on Heartless), sometimes a little tougher than you were expecting
(Win Or Lose) and occasionally reduced to such bare bones that you have to go back and listen again, just tp double-check there weren't some notes
you missed It's cold, sparsely populated and often stunning in Alaska.
Rivulets is one Nathan Amundson, who spent his formative years living in the US state. On 'You Are My Home' all of these qualities come through in
an album of immense, understated beauty.
Amundson left Alaska when he was 16, which was when he began writing songs. Since then, he's spent almost all of his time travelling across
America, performing and writing, in the process building a devoted fan base in both the US and Europe. Along the way, he's released records with
Important and Acuarela Records, worked with Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low and has shared a stage with Daniel Johnston, Mark Eitzel,
Cocorosie and My Morning Jacket to name a few.
'You Are My Home' is Rivulets 3rd full-length album, and is a work of stunning, fragile beauty. From the first gentle picked guitar notes of album opener
'Glass Houses', it becomes clear that Alaska, as a landscape, has informed the sound of this music; a stark, roomy acoustic guitar and a lonely, fragile
voice is the base for the tracks. Gorgeous, aching melodies are complimented by simple arrangements, incorporating strings, electric guitars, drums
and mellotron, which colour the sound with beautifully understated performances. Elsewhere, minimal soundscapes such as the track 'Greenhouse',
take Amundson into more experimental territory, reminiscent of the instrumental work of Tara Jane O'Neil.
Rivulets' music encapsulates the sound of sorrow and loss; the songs found within offer a lonely, wintry soundtrack, to which fans of Bon Iver, Mark
Kozelek, Elliott Smith and Low will not be disappointed. Songs such as 'Heartless', featuring Christian Frederickson's melancholic viola playing are
sure to put 'You Are My Home' on many people's end-of-year, top albums lists.
The album was recorded by Bob Weston (of Shellac/Misison Of Burma), at Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago, and features contributions from
Jessica Bailiff (Kranky), Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come, The New Year), and Christian Frederickson (Rachel's). The album also features artwork from
the renowned French photographer Laurent Orseau.