It’s an overcast, cool and rainy October day and Wolff Bowden and Amanda Birdsall are in the kitchen of their south Snohomish County home preparing a lunch dish of chanterelle mushrooms they picked earlier that day while hiking.
“This is our favorite time of year to be outside,” Bowden said. “The rain starts falling and all the tourists go away.
“It’s nice to go into the woods and feel the space and be present with it.”
Bowden and Birdsall make up the band The Winterlings, which is playing a number of shows in the Puget Sound region over the next two months, including two in Snohomish County. That connection between nature and music is prominent in The Winterlings’ lyrics and style, which could be described as Americana folk.
“I think music and love of the earth go together,” Bowden said.
That connection is obvious on their new album, “You Are Acres,” set to be released Jan. 15. A stunning picture from high above Oregon’s Lake Crescent graces the cover of the record and songs like “While We Were Sleeping,” a foot-stomping environmental anthem, and “Happy with Hunger,” a ballad to living off the land, link soil and song directly.
On the title track, which was inspired by the couple’s time living on the Olympic Peninsula, Birdsall sings, “You are gravel, you are glaciers, you are acres,” relating a person’s internal landscape as a reflection of what is outside of them.
“It’s really about the vastness of what we have inside of us,” said Birdsall, who compares song ideas to seeds, “and how that changes.”
As opposed to their first album, “Animal Groom,” which came out five years ago, Bowden and Birdsall recorded and produced “You Are Acres” by themselves. It made the process longer, but both musicians are happy they decided to do it themselves.
“Doing it ourselves allowed the songs to really distill slowly,” said Bowden. “We really believe in taking our time. Orchestration and arrangements take time.”
Bowden, who compares the song-creating process to building some sort of creature, starting with the bones to adding claws and fur, pointed to the evolution of the song “When We Were Young” as an example.
“It started out as this little riff on the ukulele and became this big song with washboards and violins,” Bowden said. “It was really the runt of the litter, but it became this big celebratory earthy song.”
Birdsall and Bowden take turns singing lead and playing guitar, violin, banjitar, ukulele, harmonium, piano and foot percussion on the album, which also receives contributions from friends Stephanie Ward and Howard Hooper.
Bowden and Birdsall believe “You Are Acres” is stronger than “Animal Groom,” which earned critical acclaim from music publications like Paste and Blackbook.
“The new album is more mature,” Bowden said. “It’s deeper than the last album.”
“It’s a little more abstract,” Birdsall added.
One of the most powerful songs, “Father I,” Bowden wrote for his dad’s 70th birthday. Bowden said his father, who is battling cancer while recovering from open heart surgery, has always lived a simple, hard-scrabble life unfettered from the usual responsibilities, something Bowden said he respects.
Bowden’s father lives in rural Georgia, and the song includes a bed of a recording of his father’s haunting voice from a phone call Bowden had with him.
“I wanted to write something reflecting on how he impacted me,” Bowden said. “I wouldn’t be the artist I am without him.”
Before settling in Snohomish County, Bowden and Birdsall called the Peninsula and Oregon home for stretches of time, playing music, creating art — Bowden is lifelong poet and painter — and exploring the land. They moved back to Washington from Oregon three years ago, but only recently moved into the their current space, which doubles as a recording studio.
Though the new record isn’t out until January, Bowden said fans can expect The Winterlings to play some of the new songs at their upcoming shows.
“We have great fans who always come out to our shows,” Bowden said. “This is home for us.”
Aaron Swaney: 425-339-3430; aswaney@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @swaney_aaron79.
If you go
The Winterlings will perform 9:30 p.m. Saturday at The Anchor Pub in Everett and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at The Repp in Snohomish. There is no cover for either show. For more information, visit www.winterlings.com.
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