Album Details

• Artist: May Stands Still
• Album: When You Come Home
• Label: Milestone Studios
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: rockthusiast on 2012-10-19

Emily Herndon strikes me as a shy girl, someone who will always be uncomfortable with heady praise no matter how long she ends up doing this. For one, she consciously chose to name her musical project May Stands Still, even though it's pretty much a solo endeavor. Whether May is an alter ego or named after the breezy month, Herndon's career is poised to take off like a bag in the wind with the November 1st release of her first full-length album When You Come Home.

Now, don't expect an ear-covering auditory assault. By definition, May Stands Still is about as gentle as indie folk gets. Herndon's beautifly understated tone doesn't so much lull as it draws you in for more. You want to spend quality time with her and all eleven of these songs, almost as if you're enjoying the California-by-way-of-Colorado chanteuse's company at a coffeehouse, wanting to make her feel at ease. Her voice has a breathy, "live" quality to it, like she's performing right in front of you. Very intimate, and very cool. Yeah it's folky, but because of the supoib instrumental support on a number of tracks, incorporating different styles such as jazz and Spanish guitar, they make you want to - gasp - dance!

Herndon's web site bio compares the face of May Stands Still to Canadian icon Joni Mitchell. After giving When You Come Home a couple of solid, critical listens, this somewhat patriotic writer doesn't know if he's willing to go that far, although her sound is reminiscent of another acoustic guitar-toting Canuck with mainstream appeal, and that's Feist. And seeing as how it's easy for me to get on a Canadian kick, I seriously find album opener "Gotta See" to be an indie folk version of Justin Bieber's "Baby"! It's totally coincidental, but if you snoop around MayStandsStill.com like I did, you'll find pop music isn't completely foreign to Herndon, evidence being a great cover of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe". Ms. Herdon may want to consider making the trek north for Canadian Music Week from March 19-24, as we are very singer-songwriter friendly up here!

User Reviews and Comments