Capes, the debut album from Tancred, otherwise know as Jess Abbott, guitarist/background vocalist for indie-pop trio Now, Now, was released a scant six months ago, but it feels like it’s been years. Perhaps that’s in part to the LP’s timelessness—its shambolic minimalism and intentionally hissy fidelity could have been the product of any era dating back to Alan Lomax’s field recordings; its weathered songs felt as old as the earth itself. Regardless, new music from Tancred is always welcome. String & Twine, a four song EP, is the premiere release on Abbott’s own Cardinal White Records, and it immediately sets a high bar for the label.

Fans will be happy to finally get their hands on studio recordings of “Bones” and “Bear”. Though meticulously crafted, they retain the shaggy lo-fi aesthetic and deep intimacy of their simple YouTube-demo roots thanks to some shaken percussion and raggedy handclaps. New track “Coat” features a guitar so close-mic’d that the scrape of fingers across strings forms its own rhythm section, as crucial to the sound as the chords those fingers form. And closer “Streams” plods darkly, methodically forward on drony resonance and layers of reverb, a haunting slice of American Gothic that clocks in at just over a minute.

String & Twine doesn’t hold any major surprises, but with compositions designed to keep the listener ever-so-slightly off-kilter, it strikes the right balance between comfortability and obliqueness. Its characters are familiar but not quite knowable; each lyric comprises a tiny, elegant puzzle, discrete but enigmatic, a will-o’-the-wisp flickering in and out of view. Abbott is particularly adept at evoking the distinctive variety of longing that arises from insurmountable separation, from depressingly unbridgeable psychic gaps, filling her sonic spaces with an emotional chill that matches the physical environs she depicts. It’s a natural extension of the path begun with Capes, the musical equivalent of wintry mix and a crackling fire. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the waning days of a waning year.

★★★★☆

*This review was composed by Jesse Richman