Sand & Lines

Recorded live with two microphones, Sand & Lines is Athens, Georgia’s Venice Is Sinking’s direct attempt to strip their sound down to its emotive core. Whether it’s Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Dean Wareham’s “Tugboat” or Chips Moman’s “The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want to Get Over You),” Venice Is Sinking deliver an acoustic brooding worthy of Bonnie “Prince” Billy or even the Cowboy Junkies, whose Trinity Sessions could be seen as serving as an inspiration for the group’s lonely sound. No matter the reasons or true inspirations, the fact is the sound of this lo-fi live recording at the Georgia Theatre in 2008 is positively inspired. The pedal steel weeps with the sorrowful harmonies that coalesce around “The Grey Line,” “Lucky Lady” and “Bardstown Road.” ”Falls City” nearly picks up a pulse, and “Pebble Hill” finds one, but in the tradition of pure slo-core, the music remains strongest at its most solemn and still. It’s like eavesdropping in on a close-knit country choir who has accidentally left the windows open and the music is being heard across the fields.