Favourite Armchair - Favourite Armchair (Mountain Backdrop) [Alt-Folk]

Steered by multi-instrumentalists Dan Roda and Trevor Chisholm, with Shaun Dubreuil wielding a wooden spoon, Dave Maki strumming a banjo, Raime Masket playing a mean bag and box, Dave Tierney responsible for piano and glockenspiel, Matthew Riemer picking a mandolin and Gabe Cooper stroking a violin, Favourite Armchair are a cold-weather resiliant, well-worn and comfortingly unpolished alt-folk freak-show in this age of doom- scrolling hypnosis, unsatisfying AI slop and peak capitalism enshittification.

In their own words, they're, "Pioneers of dilapidated yachtcore and the Woonsocket Sound, Favourite Armchair endeavour to assemble inviting avant folk songs about life. Through a peculiar process that combines asynchronous human collaboration with crudely recorded sounds of the world, the band presents its artifacts of ostensibly ragged splendour to the music community with love."

The collective have an album in progress, which is being slowly but surely updated in real time on their Bandcamp page - though I wouldn't sit in front of the screen hitting the refresh key. They're also wisely, though I somehow imagine begrudgingly, dripping a few choice singles onto streaming platforms.

The vibe is a refreshingly unpolished, intimately recorded, meandering freak-folk vibe, that tells of a possibly mildly stoned collective at ease with each other, and with a fondness for playfully, but not unsettlingly, having fun with acoustic folk forms. I'm guessing the guy on the album cover is Trevor Chisholm, and his guitar guides most of the tracks - more obviously on the stripped-back, distinctively sung or spoken-word tracks, and from the shadows during the fuller-bodied acid-folk rock flourishes.

The themes are down-to-earth, observational, localised and particular; no tired grand themes - rather like chatting unconsciously to your best mate whilst you both have a bit of time to kill. The playing varies between the lightly off-kilter to leaning precariously to the leftfield, but whatever mood the crew are in, the sound is unfailingly accessible. There's an ambient quality to many of the tracks, as the spoon, box and bag get tapped, struck, rustled, and generally abused in the nicest possible way, and there's even some cheekily grabbed cold-calling recordings and local fauna sounds augmenting the more time-honed, regular musicians.

It's a disarming and charming, lopsided folk listen from an amiable-sounding bunch, and if you're in need of some relatable, quietly kooky music company, then knock on their studio door. They'll surely welcome you in, and probably give you a random object to make some noise with.

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Playlist Companion

Find Favourite Archair in the Slow Psyche Playlist.