Everything Grows

Everything grows on Nagasaki Swim's sophomore album. Two years after their debut The Mirror, the ever-evolving project of Rotterdam-based songwriter Jasper Boogaard returns with a broadened scope and an even more collaborative spirit. Band members new-and-old, comrades, and alt-country compatriots like Mike Brenner (Songs: Ohia) and Molly Germer (Alex G) all get their time to shine on Boogaard's expansive ode to the garden-variety, to the bad days, to changing in a world that's changing around you. Everything Grows sees Boogaard heading out into the world and finding his processes reflected in the trees, the birds, and the changing climate. It instills even the more laborious arrangements, some of them recorded across two continents, with an innate airiness, reminiscent of Big Thief, Florist, and John Prine. As if out of the clear blue sky. With the lap and pedal steel promoted to a starring role, the added trumpet, and the heightened pathos of 'Window', 'Eternal' and 'The Weight Pt. 2', Boogaard's love of both jaunty country-folk and Elverumesque naturalism feel more aligned than ever.