2015-03-11
Arrowhill is a family band based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Borne of the Treehouse Community in the Baxter neighborhood, their sound embodies the collective. On their debut album, “Between Two Mountains,” Male and female vocals sing synchronously on a backdrop of mountain folk-style instrumentation. The songs incorporate plucky banjo, fiddle, bare percussion, and even a musical saw and train whistle at some points. Lyrically, Arrowhill treats spirituality, love, and the universality of living.
Most songs on “Between Two Mountains” have a ghostly, minor-keyed feel to them. They have a momentum that chugs forward as a train might through Appalachia. The sunniest track on the album is the third, “paddling upstream, downstream,” which most prominently expresses the community everyone in the world is part of: living beings. The harmonic vocals are beautiful, and they are occasionally joined by the sweet voices of children. Those voices combined with the gypsy folk sensibilities of Arrowhill’s sound make “Between Two Mountains” a positively charming record. It will both warm your heart and inspire you to reflect.
review by Marie
The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.