The Chordaes’ new EP What We Breathe In has been lauded by critics as one of the best records of its kind to have debuted in the last couple of years, and there is perhaps no song that encapsulates its inviting sound as much as its title track does. “What We Breathe In,” the latest single from this critically acclaimed vehicle for singer/songwriter Leo Sawikin, is a guitar-oriented pop ballad that was designed for folk fans whilst bearing enough of a polished hook to attract as many mainstream listeners as it does indie disciples. Although it’s one of the more involved listens on the whole of the record it shares a name with, it’s undeniably one of the smartest tracks Sawikin has penned under this moniker to date.
As we find it here, the percussion is as much of a driving force behind the chills in this song as the harmonies generated by the guitar/vocal combo are. Through the sparkling production quality that “What We Breathe In” enjoys, we’re able to get all the closer to the most minute of details within the construction of the beat, and beneath a thin layer of reverb there lies a smorgasbord of color that attracts us to the rhythm of this track even more than the actual cadence of the beat does. That’s no easy feat to pull off for any artist, let alone an act that is as influenced by traditional, unfanciful folk music as this one happens to be.
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I absolutely love how clean and clear this master mix is, and in comparison to most of the folk, rock, and pop that I’ve been reviewing lately, it’s a lot more concise and efficient from top to bottom. There’s nothing clustered together here; contrarily, the surrealism of the sonic backdrop is amplified by the textures in the music and not by some inauthentic studio augmentation. We’re welcomed into the blanket of melodies that the guitars create without ever fearing a bloated bassline’s visceral suffocation, and while the vocal remains the biggest agent of evocation in “What We Breathe In,” it never minimizes the impact of the adjacent instrumental harmonies – if anything, it makes them even more tangible to us. A lot of time and hard work went into crafting this, but I think that the rewarding tonality of the track in question was definitely worth the extra effort.
Smooth and sophisticated as ever, The Chordaes is a must-watch band this fall if you’re into the burgeoning alternative underground, and specifically the indie-folk movement as it currently stands on the American east coast. “What We Breathe In” is a self-aware, unfiltered piece of poetry that has been set to some of the most captivating melodies you’re going to encounter this October, and although it represents the current benchmark for this unit’s output, I doubt it will be the last grand slam that they hit in the years to come. They’ve still got room to grow into this sound even more than they have lately, and under the command and leadership of Leo Sawikin, I see them taking the 2020s by storm in just a matter of months.
Jodi Marxbury