Some albums demand gushing, so here goes: Once I got past thinking of the Staveley-Taylor sisters as Justin Vernon’s pet project or the English folk-rock Haim and immersed myself in If I Was, I scoffed at past-me for ever seeing them as anything but the Staves, one of the greatest bands in the universe. These 12 elegies for a failed romance are brutally honest and unimaginably beautiful. And if those adjectives don’t sell you, what if I told you the album actually does sound like a cross between Haim and Bon Iver, and it’s as good as any release by either of those acts? It does, and it is. –Chris

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