Artist, illustrator, writer and lo-fi innovator, Tobin Sprout was the super-productive partner of Robert Pollard in the legendary Guided By Voices. The gifted songwriter returns with a pensive, expansive part autobiographical new album ‘Empty Horses’. Here he’s part Townes Van Zandt, part John Prine, part Robbie Robertson at his retrospective best. The album is a meticulously observed study of America and Americana (not the music, but the state of mind). An alternative American Songbook, if you will, a collection of laments to simpler times and the struggle for what’s right, peppered with an examination of faith and the search for a sense of justice. Close up and personal, ‘Empty Horses’ is a poignant carefully etched experience, a rolling journey in modern times, nodding back to tradition, a personal snapshot filled with honesty. ‘Empty Horses’ is released on vinyl LP and also a deluxe bookback CD, beautifully packed with 24 pages of paintings and lyrics by Tobin Sprout, a true collectors piece for fans of Tobin’s music and art. “The perfect aural encapsulation of melancholy: in turns somnambulant, romantic and all-consuming” Rolling Stone “Raw, honest and often revelatory” Consequence Of Sound
