Reading reviews can, in fact, turn people on to music they’ve never heard before. The power of words can be as strong as listening to a song and deciding for yourself. The list of Pitchfork albums reviewed today included one written by Liz Colville, a smart and eloquent writer. Colville discussed Alibi Coast by Sebastian Blanck, formerly of Black Dice, as if his album was a chapter in a long, important novel.

“Blanck is at his best when he gives himself over to these unresolved, knotted issues, accepting that a song doesn’t have to end with an answer.”

That lesson can be applied to anyone’s life. Inspired by the review, I sought out some tracks, choosing “Don’t Let the Darkness Gather Me” to post. This beautiful and haunting folk song is given added warmth and oomph by collaborator Becky Stark from Lavendar Diamond. Her angelic vocals would sound fitting in a church, inside a hymn sung out joyously from a wooden pew. This song isn’t joyous, though– the album was written during the time when Blanck was mourning the loss of his brother, who drowned.

Sebastian Blanck: Don’t Let the Darkness Gather Me

The album is out on Rare Book Room.