God I love Balance and Composure.
They did an acoustic version of “Stonehands” and it is absolutely breathtaking. It’s been out for a while, apparently, but I just stumbled upon it. They’ve performed it live countless times, and the recording of the unplugged version is lovely.
Being a big fan of acoustic and stripped down music (Bon Iver, Oberst, flatsound), I think that this is the greatest thing B&C has ever released. Two guitars and three guys have never sounded so perfect. Something about the vocals and the way they build is just so beautiful. It starts off with just Jon singing and eventually, there’s harmony and a fuller quality that I’ve never quite heard from the band in their other tunes because I’ve always been so captivated by the instrumentals because of their phenomenal musicianship. However, Jon’s voice is so raw and strong and I love that; it feels like it was made for acoustic songs alone. I almost feel guilty for never swooning over his vox before.
The opening line, “don’t say goodbye to me too fast, even though I’m fast asleep, try your best to hold onto the past; wasted it all on me,” is so poetic. In the original recording, it’s still poignant and powerful, but it loses a bit of its punch. There’s a bit too much distracting the listener in the beginning with the light drums and building up of the instruments after the line. Though wonderful, it doesn’t have the same brilliance as the acoustic version.
Balance and Composure is one of the greatest bands in the scene at the moment, only because of their drive and musicianship. It’s almost like is Oberst decided to get a little more punky (not Desaparecidos style) and spend some more time with Joyce Manor (considering they toured), and added a little more “ooooooooo”s to his tunes, it’d be something like this. Definitely worth a listen, and I strongly recommend it to Iman because I believe it’s his cup of tea.
Acoustic versions are always better, anyway.