Assorted Orchids’ ‘High Tide’ paints a picture with dulled blues and grays. As autumn and winter make way, its plaintive ruminations make for a folk cut reflective of the season. T. McWilliams navigates the melancholic tune with a gorgeous subtlety, accented by a light string collective. Like other great indie folk songwriters, he finds his stride in deceptively simple—underneath a straightforward delivery is an arrangement teeming with fine-drawn musical complexities. What sells the track most, though, is the authenticity with which Assorted Orchids tells this story of loss. McWilliams tells For Folk’s Sake, “Set by the beach as winter approaches —overcast, chilly, and gray— ‘High Tide’ is the portrait of a person mourning his or her lost love, waiting for the day they will be reunited.”
Words by: Jonathan Frahm