Everything's Fine
This Boston collective has quickly ascended to the top of the mood-and-brood heap, mostly because their music ably balances the gloom and doom with stateliness and serenity.Everything's Fine, their fourth effort, again achieves this precarious balance. Revolving around principal songwriters Paul Austin and Robert Fisher, WGC's stark, vivid music mixes bucolic simplicity with a sense of grandeur. The meticulous arrangements never seem cluttered or overwhelming, yet, on a song such as "Ballad of John Parker," you may hear the sounds of mandolin, banjo, piano, viola, and 12-string guitar. The lyrical themes stay mostly in downbeat territory; "I'm wicked in the eyes of the world," Fisher moans, "I'm everything nobody wants." Filled with eerie lullabies and graceful dirges, this is a record that will make you feel better--in the same way that a good cry or a good tranquilizer would.--Marc Greilsamer