ALBUM REVIEW: The Arcadian Wild Roams From Sweet to Sharp on ‘Welcome’

In naming their new album Welcome, Nashville trio The Arcadian Wild offers a fair summation of the kindness and openness of their songs. But as they beckon with beautiful songs, they’re serving up some hard truths, too.

On album opener “Lara,” mandolinist Lincoln Mick and guitarist Isaac Horn intricately entwine their voices with no accompaniment at first, seizing attention for what blooms into a full-throated (and fully accompanied) anthem of encouragement.

But it’s hard to be at your best when your head is buried in your phone, and “Dopamine” — the album’s standout track — urges us to look up from time to time and to do the hard work of looking inward, too. The simple mandolin hook that kicks off the song eases into a simple verse. But things get complex quickly as Mick, Horn, and fiddle player Bailey Warren layer a constant stream of words and images that arrive together into the chorus:

Wake up and break yourself outta here
Don’t be one of the cold souls who disappears
Stop believing and telling the lie
Why don’t you look your life in the eye?

It’s insistent, chaotic, and fun on the surface, but it might make you feel a little bit bad about yourself in the long run. It is, put simply, scrolling your phone in song form.

Indeed, The Arcadian Wild are at their best when they’re challenging listeners, adding a little edge to their progressive folk and bluegrass blend. On “Two Kinds,” they hold up to scrutiny “two kinds of people with no in-betweens.” As the clever lyrics unfold, they conclude that in a polarized society, clinging to their assumptions “makes these two kinds of people the same.”

But most of Welcome finds The Arcadian Wild taking absolute joy in being alive, exuding gratitude for gifts large and small. “Corner” is an ode from Horn to his mother, honoring her love and protection as seen in the present and in hindsight. And “Shoulders,” by Mick, thanks a father for giving a son the wisdom and wings to soar. “Big Sky, MT” celebrates the natural world and romantic partnership against a rhythm and melody that roam freely but always keep sight of each other.

In their instrumentation and what they do with it, as well as in their vocals and songwriting, The Arcadian Wild evoke early Nickel Creek, unafraid of emotion or of experimentation. They’re not squarely bluegrass or folk, not purely pop, and not afraid to mix in classical and choral elements. (Mick and Horn first met and formed the band as choir students at Nashville’s Lipscomb University about a decade ago.)

After a pandemic-era foray into headier composition with 2021’s Principium EP, a four-movement song cycle, The Arcadian Wild returns to more accessible, but no less intelligent fare on Welcome, picking up where they left off on 2019’s Finch in the Pantry. These are beautifully crafted songs that go straight for the heart while making the brain feel right at home, too.

From left, Lincoln Mick, Bailey Warren, and Isaac Horn of The Arcadian Wild (photo by Shelby Mick)

The Arcadian Wild’s Welcome is out July 21.