St. Louis-based songwriter Justin Kinkel-Schuster and Oxford, MS drummer and producer Andrew Bryant formed Water Liars almost by accident, when a weekend-long recording session begat a quietly brilliant collection of songs, which Misra Records released last year under the title Phantom Limb. This past March, the band released a follow-up, Wyoming, via Fat Possum imprint Big Legal Mess. It’s slightly more considered but just as affecting, full of gorgeous harmonies and slow, deliberate rhythms. The album’s wide-open spaces conjure up sepia-toned images of its namesake, barren but beautiful. Songs like the pensive, plodding title track exhibit similar sonic proclivities to Philly’s Strand of Oaks. Suckers for stark, sad-dude music (like yours truly) will delight in the buzzkill vibes. BYOB.
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