As “Restless and Forgiven” opens up this self-titled EP, you can only admire the way that Detroit’s Derby Hill wraps his songs of everyday trials and tribulations in ornate and eloquent layers of roots textures and folky tones. There is an art to weaving so many sonic threads together; it takes a clever writer and arranger to bundle so many sounds together without them colliding or conflicting, but Hill demonstrates it effortlessly here. A place for everything and everything in its place, as the saying goes. Around the rhythmic guitar at the song’s core, mandolins rise up through, pedal guitars add mystique, six-strings are deftly picked – it’s a riot of raw and rootsy cinematic colour. What a way to kick things off.
By contrast, “Red Honey Wine” is more spacious; there are still numerous sonics at work, but there is also plenty of room to let them all breathe, a space that allows atmospheres to be ushered up from the song’s heart, a space that elegantly frames every delicate note and delicious sound.
“Come Back Home” is a gloriously poetic folky-shuffle, “Anything’s Possible Here” is the sound of timeless folk moves and grooves being brought bang up to date, and “In a Matter of Moments” wanders beautifully into the restrained, cosmic country meets ambient understament that graced Bon Iver albums, and that is great company to find yourself in.
Derby Hill exists at a point where all manner of folk, country, indie, and even chilled alt-pop dance together. It echoes timeless sounds, it bristles with modernity, and it looks to a glorious future for acoustic music.
