In order to be both warm and undeniably distant, a vocal has to be delivered with the sort of discipline that comes from both years of repetitious conditioning and natural talent, and in the new single “Hummingbirds” from Milquetoast & Co., we find such a vocal ready to sweep us off our feet and into the ethers. If you’re a fan of the American indie beat, odds are you’ve heard something about this band in the last ten years, but no matter how much of Milquetoast & Co.’s music you’ve listened to prior to now, “Hummingbirds” stands out as a specifically powerful performance I’d rank among their best ever.

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The rustic aesthetical vibe transmitted by the music video for this song is born of the enrapturing visual spectacle we encounter on screen, but I wouldn’t discount the importance of the soundtrack in making the mood here what it is. The essence of “Hummingbirds” is its fragility and, more intensely, its vulnerability as conveyed by the relationship between the vocal and the rhythm of the backing band, and because the video not a complete embodiment of this breakable brooding energy viewers are a lot more likely to grasp the full scope of the passion on display in this release.

I’ve yet to be disappointed by anything Milquetoast & Co. have released in their career to date, and in terms of meeting my expectations “Hummingbirds” is everything I would hope for it to be and so much more. Beyond the poetic content in its lyrics that allows for even the most cursory of listening sessions to feel therapeutic and endearing, there’s a sonic complexity to this recording that makes me want to spend some time actually watching the way the band works when they’re inside of a studio. All in all, I adore this addition to their discography and truly hope to hear more like it soon.

John McCall