If home-produced, rough-around-the-edges indie-pop is your bag, then Quiet Safe Nothings by Gilboa could be right up your ally. For those who appreciate melody and intention over execution, tracks like opener 'Quiet' and 'Away' will please the most, while my personal favourite 'Song in Open D' will find fans with listeners who value honesty and vulnerability in their songs. Gilboa offers imagery of youth ("It's not so hard, driving in your mother's car... I want to make it to a promised land"), followed by a truly pretty musical section and segue into the second verse. It showcases an earnest songwriter of real potential.
Quiet Safe Nothings succeeds best when it embraces its lo-fi roots ("Quiet") and in its melodically driven songwriting (Song in Open D), however, there are moments when the mid-fi production, like on 'Nothing', doesn't balance itself quite as well. All in all this is a nice and rewarding slice of acoustic lo-fi indie rock.
★★★
