The Declining Winter – Last April

Second Language

Whilst erstwhile Hood veteran Richard Adams had hinted that his primary latter-day songcraft operation, The Declining Winter, might be brought to an end with 2023’s sprawling Really Early, Really Late career-high double LP, life circumstances dictated that a postscript platter was, at the very least, in order.

Whereas its aforementioned predecessor presented itself as a widescreen and eclectic set, this year’s six-song Last April is a far more intensely concentrated and intimate affair. Assembled out of necessity, to process the grief from the premature passing of a close family member, this is an extremely poignant suite of reflections.

Pared down to the robust yet refined core pairing of Adams (on vocals, acoustic guitar, piano and assorted extra components) and regular comradely foil Sarah Kemp (also of Brave Timbers and Last Harbour, on violins), things go very deep, but crucially not beyond a point where there continues to be comfort around its acute sadness.

At this later stage of his vocation to date, Adams has also remarkably infused a new-found richness into his voice, with oral shades of solo years Syd Barrett and now-Second Language labelmate Oliver Cherer joining his usual hushed hybridising of Sam Prekop and James Johnston. It sits achingly at the centre of the beatific autumnal frameworks forged closely with Kemp. The latter’s serene string arrangements are sublimely stunning throughout, it must be noted; weaving and wrapping around Adams’s plaintive elegies, in a fashion that only such an intuitive long-time collaborator could convey so convincingly.

Thus, via the emotionally raw but tender chamber music-tinged pairing of “Eyes On Mine” and the title track, proceedings open with a calming mournfulness. Thereafter, we’re taken through the delicate picking and tiered textures of “Lime Tree House”; a gut-wrenchingly masterful makeover of the late David Berman’s aptly affinitive “Mother’s Son”; and the relatively fleeting psych-folk-steeped “My Greatest Friend”. While the closing “August Blue” contains an undeniably bleak lyrical denouement, the way its sparse minimalism leads on to a lushly layered coda seals up the whole collection with subtly uplifting optimism.

Although Last April may not be an easy record, it is a profoundly special one that should remain a go-to place of solace for many years to come for its listeners and creators alike. Hopefully too, it is not the end of The Declining Winter story quite yet.

-Adrian-