Watchhouse - This Side of Jordan

This Side of Jordan is where Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz first landed on Yep Roc, a 2013 folk record originally released under the name Mandolin Orange and now credited to Watchhouse.

The North Carolina duo's third album introduced many listeners to their quiet, front-porch intimacy, built on Marlin's mandolin and guitar, Frantz's violin and the close harmonies the pair share. Long before the name change, these songs were already showing the patient, unadorned songwriting that would carry them to much bigger stages. With the two of them handling almost everything, the arrangements leave room for every fiddle line and mandolin figure to breathe.

House of Stone opens the record with a gentle, unhurried sway, while Turtle Dove & the Crow draws on old-time imagery and folk tradition. Waltz About Whiskey is a bittersweet three-quarter-time lament, with Marlin picking up the bass, and Until the Last Light Fades closes things with a tender, lingering glow.

Morphine Girl adds a rare touch of electric guitar from Ryan Gustafson, a reminder of how little the duo needs to make a song feel complete.

Quiet and heartfelt, it is the sound of two musicians who never need to raise their voices to be heard, and it rewards a slow evening with the windows open.