Old Bricks -old

Under the name Old Bricks, Carrboro songwriter Stuart Edwards and Raleigh guitarist Andy Holmes have made music for just more than a year. But if the mix of fragile sway, survivalist spirit and thoughtful textures on their self-released debut LP, Farmers, sounds much too developed and assured for such a new duo, a confession is in order: Holmes and Edwards grew up together in Rocky Mount, N.C. They grew to know each other after Edwards moved to Nashville, Tenn., to study music, when they’d stay up late talking about bands and songs by phone before realizing they simply needed to make music together. Holmes moved to Nashville, and then they both moved back to North Carolina. And, as if by magic, the Triangle has a new great group of rookies with boundless potential.

If only the story was that easy: In Tennessee, friends died and friends fought. A band they’d invested themselves in crept into stagnation. Before returning east, the two were homeless for a spell. They made it, though, and that process of problems and perseverance seems to have given Old Bricks the spirit to emerge almost fully formed. Farmers, after all, is a stunning entrance that suggests an even-tempered Bright Eyes sitting around Campfire Songs. “Every lost ship is headed someplace/ As long as the wind blows,” Edwards sings on the perfect eight-minute creeper “Children,” his voice damaged but determined to keep moving. 

Indeed, though, Holmes and Edwards have seen the worst sides of artistic stalemates, and, no matter how much praise this or any critic has heaped upon them, they’re not sitting still. They’ve expanded Old Bricks to an occasional four-piece and their range to be both more aggressive and more rhythmic. From everything they’ve unveiled live of late, this ship is certainly one to chart. —Grayson Currin