Stream: Letts, ‘Emeralds’

Kevin Bronson on January 14th, 2015

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Christian Letts’ debut album â€” due Feb. 17 under the name Letts â€”Â could hardly have a more apt title. “Hold Fast” adheres to timeless songwriting traditions, the finest being the notion that an artist can somehow lay bare a piece of his soul in under four minutes. The England-born, L.A.-reared singer-guitarist, who spent the past few years playing in Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, worked with first-time producer Marcus Mumford on the album, and aided by players from both their bands they achieved an an album of vivid, warm and expansive music. “Hold Fast” will be released by Alex Ebert’s Community Music (via Vagrant), and its artwork features paintings by Letts (exhibitions of his visual art will run concurrently with the album’s rollout). In contrast with the intimate, lovelorn first single “Charles De Gaulle,” the latest from the album is “Emeralds,” which goes for the arena-sized folk sound of both Edward Sharpe and Mumford & Sons. Letts won’t have to ask anybody to clap along.

||| Stream: “Emeralds” and “Matches”