Neil Halstead – “Oh! Mighty Engine”

I’ve started hitting the recent reviews page on Pitchfork every few days and downloading everything so I can listen to new stuff while I work.

Can’t remember what about the 5.9-rated review of Neil Halstead’s latest record, Oh! Mighty Engine, made me want to check it out, but I’m pretty glad I did.

It’s an effortless, butter-smooth, quiet folk track with some steel guitar and a pleasant British accent. Bonus points for pronouncing “colons” co-lawns.

More than just a great song, it’s a reminder to check out everything and decide for myself. A 5.9 rating sounds pretty unappealing, but this album yielded my favorite song so far this year.