Baltimore’s Thrushes have had a bit of a time this past year, losing drummer only Ryan Sterner only to see founding percussionist Matt Davis return to the fold.

Casey, Rachel, Anna and Matt were kind enough to extend an invitation to have us poke around Lord Baltimore Recording while they were in the studio to wrap up tracking sophomore full-length, Night Falls.  As of now, the new album will feature eleven tracks including one cover.  Stylistically, the pace is often much quicker (said semi-sardonically to be a result of Thrushes just “getting better at their instruments”), yet often the music is much heavier than their 2007 debut Sun Come Undone.  Casey Harvey in particular has pulled out all the stops, dragging every musical instrument in their summed collections into the fray short of the clanging pipes of the kitchen sink.  When I entered, they had even just finished tracking with a guest organist.  The result is more diversity in texture of their “wall of sound,” as well as increased density.  They are really exploring the entirety of their sonic palette.  Anna Conner’s vocals have become more emotionally diverse, less frequently going to the place of crushing, almost destructive despair and anger oft present in their debut.  Instead, we find a more mature and measured heartache that still floods you with emotion.  I didn’t sit in on any of the vocal tracking, and only heard a few tracks played back.  So maybe there’s even room for some hope?

Casey was kind enough to leak an early mix of one track with us for streaming only purposes…just to whet your appetite a little more until the targeted winter 2009/2010 release.  Stay tuned for more leaks as mixing finishes up and the album release nears.  In the meantime, here are some photos from the session with sound engineer Brooks Harlan of locals AVEC.

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Thrushes – Used to You (early mix)