Few artists can quieten a room quite like Angelo De Augustine. You cannot help but admire the intimacy of this LA-based singer-songwriter, from his hushed whisper-vocals to the gorgeous finger-picked acoustic guitar, he can make a music venue feel like a living room, demanding the audience’s full attention by simply refusing to raise his voice. When the news of Augustine’s new record, “Tomb”, hit, it was announced that he was working with Thomas Bartlett aka Doveman, a renowned musician and producer who helmed recent records by St. Vincent, Rhye, Glen Hansard and Stevens.
If a lot of why earlier album Swim Inside the Moon was so heartbreakingly striking stemmed from its rough and lo-fi recording, how would a studio-produced release even remotely capture this same closeness? By and large, Bartlett’s cleaner mix works wonders for De Augustine. With cleaner vocals and an emphasis on a variety of instrumentation, Tomb is more direct than anything De Augustine’s has released prior.
By adding cleaner production, synth and string flourishes alongside poppier and catchier refrains, De Augustine largely hits the mark on Tomb. With a few curveballs thrown throughout, the warm and comforting lull of Swim Inside the Moon is long gone, replaced by a fascinating record that updates his prior work without losing any of its intimacy.
I’m gonna put this out there: ever since I found out about collaboration with Sufjan Stevens’ strong affiliation with church, I pretty much banned him from my earlobes. Anyway, this one slipped through the cracks because Angelo De Augustine is singing it instead
The Fat Angel Sings 