As that great philosopher Geddy Lee once sang, tough times demand tough songs. The second album by Ever More Nest—the band project of singer songwriter Kelcy Wilburn—is pretty well steeped in the hope and dread of the post-COVID era. Though a warm and inviting record on the surface, the lyrics have more thoughtful, often darker undertones that make it a richer listen.
Lyrical acoustic rock has been Wilburn’s strong point since she began making tracks locally under the name Kelcy Mae. With Ever More Nest, she’s moved her recording base to Nashville and embraced a fully-produced Americana sound, branching out quite a bit musically. Though it’s acoustically based, electric guitars and big drums are employed tastefully, often alongside mandolins and banjo. Wilburn has grown in confidence as a singer: “All I Want” and “Wishing Well” are both downhearted country songs; her performances are more affecting for their restraint. “This Cloud” is about depression and the arrangement dares to get a bit dramatic; the tune provides the needed uplift.
As a lyricist Wilburn doesn’t take the easy way out; and when she says something sympathetic, she works to make it ring true. The opening, “Out Loud,” is the first COVID-themed song I’ve heard that acknowledges that re-entry in the world will hold its own challenges. The title track could be another COVID song or about the end of a relationship: in either case she paces it so that the final resolution (“Somewhere at the end of things are all new beginnings, you’re out there now”) feels real and believable. The scary political climate, while never mentioned directly, seems to be a factor in these songs as well.
All this plays into the best track, “Hymn,” a lyrically complex song about spiritual uncertainty and the need to accept it, and it ends with her breaking the fourth wall: “I’m gonna tell you the truth, nobody knows it/ Some might tell you they do, they’re full of shit/ I’m going out on a limb when I tell you this song’s a hymn.” From there the song heads to a choral/instrumental finale, which has a beauty that even her own finely-tuned words can’t express.
