Matrimony - Montibello Memories (2014)

Formed in 2009, North Carolina's Matrimony are a family band through and through. Fronted by husband-and-wife combo Jimmy and Ashlee Hardee Brown and backed by Ashlee's two brothers C.J. and Jordan Hardee, they take their cues from folk music's past as filtered through the contemporary sounds of the indie nu folk movement. After releasing an EP as a duo back in 2010, Jimmy and Ashlee made the move toward a more expansive, indie pop sound, enlisting the other two Hardees to complete the lineup that appears here on the band's debut LP, Montibello Memories. With most of the crew having grown up in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jimmy Brown is the resident newcomer and outside voice, having married into the Hardee family after immigrating from Belfast, Ireland. Accordion, banjo, dulcimer, and mandolin are employed throughout the 11 tracks that suggest some Americana flavor, but generally skew more toward a kind of neutral, acoustic indie pop aesthetic. Their strong focus on family and the hearth and home (the album's title refers to the Hardees' family home on Montibello Drive) comes across on tracks like "Last Love," a wistful country-pop ballad in which Ashlee sings about her marriage, and "See the Light," with its warm strains of earthy Appalachian and gospel. Although they work more in the pop vein, Matrimony's story is an interesting one and the bandmembers are at their most compelling when playing on their homespun, folksy promise.