Tristan Jantz - “Closest”

Los Angeles-based Tristan Jantz arrives on the blog with “Closest,” a lovely indie folk song that explores the balance between chasing your dreams and being content with who you are.

“Closest” starts us off with an earful of warmly strummed acoustic guitar. The playing is remarkably confident, but it does nothing to prepare you for the exquisite slide guitar that soon saturates the soundscape. And while the entire song is, without a doubt, magnificent, once we heard this slide, we knew that the track was going on the blog. It’s wonderfully reverberated and conjures musical memories from across years of sound waves, from Mazzy Star to Lord Huron, even a bit of The Beach Boys.

And if that were not enough, once Jantz begins delivering the lyrics, fans of Sufjan Stevens and Elliott Smith will feel right at home. The vocals have been delicately doubled, which is one of our most cherished aspects of modern folk music. Ear candy is in abundance throughout the verse as more and more guitars are layered in. But Jantz is not done pulling sonic tricks from his sleeve just yet, and as you pass the midway point, your ears will be delighted as they fill with the sounds of the full rhythm section, not to mention some subtle vocal harmonies.

Then, just as quickly as it began, “Closest” retreats back into its initially raw and stripped-back form, encouraging you to repeatedly press that play button. We’re not sure what Jantz has in store for us as far as future releases are concerned, but if he keeps making music like this, we will always make some room for him on our blog.

-TM