Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz – “Found My Way Home” (track review)

Blink and you just might believe Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz are a newfound duo. In truth, the two have been collaborating since 2002, first piquing the interest of the national roots scene with Anders’ Not at One a year later in 2003. They’ve finally elected to share the bill in Of All These Things, the first release of their collaborative years to feature both of their names at the center of the album cover. So, this may be the duo’s debut album by a technicality’s sake, but they have been honing their craft for years and are ready to share it with their audience in a brand new way. That much is evident straightaway with the album.

Although they collectively fall under more of the folk-ended side of Americana, the songs that Anders and O’Bitz have composed on Of All These Things each pull their own weight. There is the wistful ebullience of album opener ‘Below the Night’, which compliments the subtly more electrified country rock of ‘Eyes of Your Love’ in its soft-sung reflections.

The closer, however, is this humble writer’s personal favorite. “Found My Way Home” feels minimalist at first, rolling in at a cool three minutes and twenty seconds with an intent to captivate the heart—just, perhaps, not unlike other minimalist nu-folk releases in recent times have aimed to do. It’s in this conveyance of the duo’s trademark subtlety when it’s transplanted against a story that’s so easy to follow, though, that it flourishes. Like the titular ‘All the Things’ that rests at the end of a journey into the Milk Carton Kids’ newest full-length, it’s a sweet way to wrap an album up with its title-derivative tune. Capitalizing on O’Bitz’s strengths as a guitarist as deceptively frenetic rhythms and patterns unfurl around Anders’ gorgeous croon, it’s a haunting, darling love song that truly leaves a lasting impression on listeners as the album of the same name reaches its close.

Anders and O’Bitz’s Of All These Things is out now.