Track List: Cavalier / The Lakes / Red Dust / Gold / All Points / Look Out / Repeating / Post Tropical / Glaciers / Outside Digging // 

I was given this album for my birthday in vinyl and luckily it came with an mp3 download, which I took advantage of straight away as my record player was unfortunately in need of repair. Although I have not listened to his first album to the same extent as I have to this album, there is a complete change in style from his first album compared to his second. There is a new depth to his music that pushes it to a new extreme level. When McMorrow was asked about the progressions of his style from Early in the Morning to Post Tropical, he said how he believes that he had no interest in repeating himself. 

James Vincent McMorrow has been labeled in a certain genre by being compared to other artists such as Mumford & Sons and Ben Howard after his first album, Early in the Morning. Now after the release of his second album where he explored and ventured into a new area of music he is being compared to Bon Iver because of his similar use of falsetto. In my view, no artist should be pushed into a certain label or genre simply because this puts false limits on the artist. McMorrow has already proved this wrong by exploring a new area of music, comparing them or putting them into a list that is of similar artists takes away their individuality and the elements that they contribute to music as a whole. 

It's an intimate album that invites you to listen to it over and over and over and...; it's consistently strong and uplifting throughout and the fragility of his voice and serene tone somehow work together to aid this strength. His use of instrumentation adds to this depth, from electronic drum beats, crashing cymbals, atmospheric synths, his use of guitar (which is familiar from his previous album), his use of piano and horns, strings, sounds of harps, all these create this overall texture that makes the album beautiful. But what drives the pieces to and even higher level is the use of his voice, consistently pushing to the top of his range (falsetto - even though this sounds completely comfortable. My brother recently attended one of his gigs and told me how comfortable he is in this range, and expressed how it was the strength of his performance.). 

The vocal elements provide a sense of longing, and are both haunting and passionate that dive into the meaning of the lyrics. Red Dust shows this perfectly with its repetition of "Sometimes my hands, they don't feel like my own, I need someone to love, I need someone to hold." The repetition doesn't get tiring or over-used it just works, this technique is similarly used in Outside, Digging where he starts the piece off with repeating the first line "There is so little left from the warmth of the sun". These elements (and the additional instrumentation) add to the strength of the album and are what push it to a new level. For me, this consistent use of his falsetto becomes comforting and brings a sense of warmth, which is the opposite of what I tend to relate it with. It is not boring or overused as some might find it and melds together into the atmosphere created from the other musical elements.

Listening it to months on end make it seem like it's own form of soundscape, bringing back everything that it reminds you of. He has progressed further from his first album of a singer songwriter to something more. I can still listen to it without being bored and it is definitely worth a million listens. 

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