the a’s – fruit

Is a cover album limited by nature? Many of these classics weren’t sung and penned by the same person. Then again, The A’s have plenty of great songwriting parallels—Adrienne Lenker, par exemple. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter: the performances on ‘Fruit’ are beautifully contained, inventive, and glowing with folky fandom. The penultimate track is the only original work, adding a worthwhile, modernised element to the palette. If it has a genuine problem, it is in the lack of setting. Too neat for an imagined campfire, too stripped-back for a festival, ‘Fruit’ is best discovered in a state of moderacy, so it can gently uplift with old-timey goodness.

22/30

A favourite: ‘Why I’m Grieving’ 

‘Fruit’ is out now via Psychic Hotline.