Time Is Passed

With Foxtails Brigade, frontwoman and songwriter Laura Weinbach has tapped into the belief that the best tunes tend to write themselves. Whenever a song wants to arrive, a musician must become its vessel—a relationship akin to lightning and a lightning rod. The opening chamber-folk gem “The Unloved” is a perfect example. A nonlinear melody flows in and out of Weinbach as the lyrics pour from her gossamer voice like creamed honey. There's a beautiful contrast here and throughout Time Is Passed. Melancholy musings are uplifted with soaring melodies, giving the album a sophistication far ahead of Foxtails Brigade’s strong 2011 debut, The Bread and the Bait. The playful “Unfairness Awareness” balances junkyard percussion with classic instrumentation as Weinbach takes on the character of a jilted child standing sans gift under a Christmas tree. This empty-handed metaphor extends into the outstanding anti-carol “I'm Not Really in the Christmas Mood This Year” and the wintry instrumental interlude “Slowly Melting Silent Snowmen.” Weinbach’s otherworldly voice stands salient in the minimally beautiful “Afterglow.”