Album Review – Convinced Friend by Convinced Friend (2024) (Solid Brass Records / Relief Map Records)
I first happened upon the brilliance of this superb Convinced Friend solo recording project of Rhode Island’s Austin Wilson when the erstwhile single of the year for 2024 White Collar, graced the ‘release radar’ section of my corner of Spotify last month.
Blessed with the melodic, dulcet whirring guitars of acts such as the Podcasts, Devon Welsh, and Harrison Whitford, it joins the equally enthralling Sackcloth in providing mid-tempo respite to the emotionality of the remainder of this beautiful album.
Tracks best represented by Wander, Taken Apart, and Weekend take us through an Elliott Smith-style jangly slowcore that is augmented by a production that accentuates every perfect aching note, whereas Open Bloom, Muttering God, and All At Once offer the sort of subtle jangle gaze infections that are so buoyant with melancholy within the Glom and Ghost Mail aesthetic.
Beauty comes in many forms, and this Convinced Friend album is definitely one of them.
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