In Tongues
This Florida folk crew's full-length debut, arriving two years after their promising Quiet Light EP, seems designed to illustrate how much they’ve learned in the interim. A road-hardened weariness now permeates their Americana; frontman Andrew Shepard’s vocals on the Southern-tinged opener “Slow Knife” make him sound like the latter-day Tom Petty he's been pitched as. Even better are tracks like "No Enemy" and the slow-burn epic "A Blow to the Head," whose synths and roiling surf rock guitars illuminate fans' flattering comparisons of Shepard to My Morning Jacket's Jim James. Over-stuffed as it is, In Tongues suggests it’ll be fun listening to these guys figure out what kind of band they want to be.