Best new artist maybe a bit of an understatement when talking about Nebraska native and singer-songwriter, Max Holmquist, who also goes by the stage name South of Lincoln. For me, not only is he one of the best, he’s lo-fi crack. When I’m not listening to his most recent full-length album,Homes, or his new EP, The Monsters/Bathroom Session, I’m actually jonesing till the next time I’m able to hit the “Play” button.
Homes is an eleven-song collection of slow, acoustic folk songs based on his concept of home and where that place might be and what it means. Just Holmquist and his guitar which is sometimes strummed and sometimes picked, but never wrong and always beautifully sparse with the occasional piano or organ to add sonic texture. Though dubbed a singer-songwriter, Holmquist’s songs don’t exactly fall into the first-person, self-centered sadness most in the genre write about. That’s not to say there isn’t a confessional song or two on the album, but most are fictional stories, observant tracks that loosely draw on the experiences of people he knows, or stories others have told him. Despite not exactly fitting into the singer-songwriter format, each song on Homes is just as heartbreaking, emotional and honest.
Every track on the album is simple yet extraordinary making it exceptionally hard for me to focus on just a few, so I’m not even going to try. The only thing I can focus on is this addiction. People, this is not an addiction that can be conquered by an intervention or eased by joining a twelve-step program, and, quite frankly, it’s an addiction I don’t want to kick. I guess if there was an addiction worth having, South of Lincoln is it.
— April D. Wolfe @ Common Folk Music
Stream & Download Homes (Pay what you want)
Stream & Download The Monsters/Bathroom Session (Pay what you want)
South of Lincoln Facebook
South of Lincoln Myspace
Read South of Lincoln interview with Slowcoustic
