The Staves – “Trying”
A lot of people don’t realize that the Staves’ If I Was deserves to be spoken of with the same breathless reverence reserved for 2015 classics like Art Angels and To Pimp A Butterfly, but it’s true. The Staveley-Taylor sisters could have retired from music at that point knowing that they’d given the world something as transcendently brilliant as any of the Bon Iver albums served up by If I Was producer Justin Vernon. But just as I will never stop singing the album’s praises and judging anyone who refuses to acknowledge its status as a flawless masterpiece, the esteemed folk-rock trio has also not stopped releasing music in the ensuing years.
Their latest offering was last month’s exceedingly lovely “Nazareth,” which they’re following up today with another new track called “Trying.” Whereas “Nazareth” erred on the organic acoustic side, “Trying” rests on a soft bed of keyboard sounds and orchestral swells, but both tracks put a spotlight on the sisters’ achingly gorgeous vocal harmonies. “I’m sorry,” they sing at the new song’s climax. “You should be sorry too.”
In a statement on Twitter, one of the band members writes, “I feel like trying is what we spend most of our lives doing really. Just trying our best. Trying to be better, to make things work. This was definitely written at a time where I was nearly tried out.” Listen below.
“Trying” is out now on Nonesuch, and given that it’s presented with the same graphic design as “Nazareth,” a new album is probably on the way.