Gifts or Creatures - Fair Mitten (New Songs of the Historic Great Lakes Basin) (2017)

Gifts or Creatures is the musical project of husband-and-wife duo Brandon and Bethany Foote. Based in Lansing, Michigan, the couple began writing songs together in 2009, eventually issuing their debut LP Pilot House in 2010 via the Michigan arts collective Earthworks Music. Their evocative music blends folk, pop, and Americana elements with a deep historical bent that is at times both hauntingly dark and wistfully poetic. The interplay between Brandon's warm, electric guitar and Bethany's Wurlitzer electric piano is as much a signature sound as their delicate vocal harmonies. Following several years of touring and writing, the band set about recording their follow-up album. Released in September 2013, Yesteryear Western Darkness featured a larger ensemble than before, including pedal steel, vibraphone, and a full rhythm section. Delving even deeper into their fascination with regional history and folklore, Gifts or Creatures returned in the fall of 2017 with Fair Mitten (New Songs of the Historic Great Lakes Basin), a detailed and resonant collection of original songs spanning several centuries of Great Lakes history. ~ Timothy Monger