In their new single “To the River,” Americana duo Dorsten continue to develop their sharp tandem tonal attack with larger-than-life harmonies that could make anyone into a fan of modern roots music. “To the River” has all the cosmetics of a true indie-pop song; a big hook, an easygoing groove, and a pair of players in Dorsten that can give life to just about any hook they get their hands on, but the mechanics of the track have a lot more in common with vintage folk music than they do anything else. There are a lot of layers to peel back in this act’s sound, but no matter how you take their music or which genre you choose to classify it as there’s no getting around the simple fact that they’ve got more talent than most anyone in their southwestern peer group at the moment.

Everything in this song revolves around preserving the authenticity of the harmony, which most indie artists would take issue with right out of the gate. There’s often no room in the mix for eliminating the artificialities that come with propping up skyscraper-sized hooks when making conventional pop music, but that’s where Dorsten’s folk ethic comes into play. They’re going out of their way to make sure there’s a little bit of a swing to their shared vocal delivery, and within the substance of the harmony itself, we find a lot of unrefined, humble tonality that lets us know we’re listening to something real and tangible. It’s not a bastion of the revivalist movement, but rather a more virginal era of the Americana genre they’re drawing inspiration from here.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7fGo6G0ysyZCh9Co8Lcjl3

Even with its subtle bassline being factored into the equation, the groove in this track is heavy enough to get us moving to the beat steadily from the get-go. I’m not one hundred percent certain, but if I were to make an educated guess, I’d say that Dorsten wanted to make a point of demonstrating how little they need to depend on external resources when crafting something original in the studio with “To the River.” The irony comes in the form of the lyrical content, which alludes to pop culture in the bluntest of fashions, amidst a backdrop that is born of something removed from cosmopolitan artistry altogether.

The underground is always producing new talent, no matter what genre of music we’re discussing, but when it comes to folk and its many factions, its latest export in Dorsten proves that the state isn’t losing its touch by any means. This has been an intriguing time for Americana, and specifically for folk-pop crossover artists, but in “To the River,” I think we can hear shades of a newly evolved sound coming from these two that will be more than worth following up with in the future. They’ve still got time to keep growing, but as of this moment, this brother and sister act is among my top indie folk bands to watch as we get closer to 2024.

Bradley McClure