Ears Wide Open: Yellow Red Sparks

Kevin Bronson on
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Joshua Hanson has a troubadour’s tenor that will stop you in your tracks – and it has, more than once – and since the singer-guitarist moved to L.A. from Idaho he’s been polishing his orchestral folk music as Yellow Red Sparks. With multi-instrumentalist Sara Lynn and singer-drummer Goldy, Hanson takes an economical yet cinematic approach to his band’s arrangements: No 10-member orchestras or mini-chorales were needed on the band’s “Four Steps in Corsets” EP, released earlier this year after the band hooked up with Org Music. Hanson’s gorgeous meditations take on a bigger presence on Yellow Red Sparks’ self-titled debut, due Jan. 29 and produced by Ted Hutt, the ex-Flogging Molly guitarist who has helmed records by Lucero, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jesse Malin and Audra Mae, among others. “Monsters With Misdemeanors” was first circulated almost two years ago when Harrison was a new kid in town – it’s even prettier now.

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