Rivulets - You've Got Your Own
(Acuarela)
Rivulets is Nathan Amundson’s frosty folk project and at the start of You’ve Got Your Own, he is not a particularly happy man. Things in this singer/songwriter’s love life appear not to have gone well and more than that, he seems to be dwelling on that fact. But then, name me a person who hasn’t been there and I’ll show you someone incapable of grief. You’ve Got Your Own is a brief sketch of the aftermath of a relationship (or maybe even more than one) gone wrong. But it’s not a bitter rant, rather a gentle mourning of loss and an attempt to come to peace with its underlying reasons.
The opener “Waited For You” wafts into the air borne on the scraped strings of Amundson’s gently plucked acoustic guitar and his low-key breathy vocals. It is a song of unrequited love and sets the theme for the short EP. Amundson’s world is tinged with longing (“Waited For You”) and populated with the spectral afterimages of lost love (“Shadows of a Ghost”). Amundson’s inability to extricate himself from the vortex into which he has stumbled would wear thin over the length of an entire album, but before the lugubrious mood overstays its welcome, he offers glimpses of a better future. Even the apparently downbeat lyrics of “Rain All Winter Long” are leavened by the optimism of Engineer Jesse Edwards’ swimming guitar swirls. After all, when you’ve spent as much time in Alaska and Minnesota as Amundson has, a winter full of rain is a positive omen.
A sort of catharsis comes in “Let It Go.” The title would seem to promise a release from the preceding downbeat, wistful songs and yet the full line that contains it is “Anyone would let it go.” Amundson’s torturous pounding of both his detuned guitar and drum set indicate that he may not be that idealized anyone, despite his best intentions. Ultimately, the Codeine-like dissonant bursts resolve into gentle echoed vocals as the track’s title reaches its potential as a healing mantra. “Slight Return” quotes the sparse opening track but here the melody is fleshed out with drums and electric guitar that give it an upbeat cant its predecessor lacked. It is as if after Amundson’s return to past heartache, and replay of its disappointments, he is now ready to escape its gravity and embrace whatever joy has eluded his grasp thus far.
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