Returning from the full-band detour that was 2018’s All the Things that I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do, the Milk Carton Kids - Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan - reverted to just two guitars and two voices on their latest release.
While last year’s experiment was a success, the return to home base is welcome as The Only Ones takes a different kind of leap. Where previous acoustic LPs triumphed on their tender beauty alone, the Kids sound all grown up now - and nowhere more so than on the Neil Young-flavored “My Name is Ana,” which could be about Hitler’s Germany, Trump’s America or both.
“My name is Ana/you might have read about me/I live in the attic with my family/I leave the lights off/so nobody can see/I sleep with my shoes on in case they come for me,” Pattengale and Ryan sing in light harmony that carries a sublime heaviness.
Though the Milk Carton Kids are most often compared to Simon and Garfunkel - and their influence is apparent on “I Meant Every Word I Said” and “About the Size of a Pixel” - the duo also has other progenitors on their minds.
“I’ll Be Gone” recalls Reckoning-era Grateful Dead; the title track could fairly be called an Everly Brothers tribute and “I Was Alive” nods to another duo - Crosby and Nash.
With seven songs running just 25 minutes, The Only Ones is more EP than LP. But what it lacks in quantity it makes up for with quality - there’s not a wasted chord; every word is essential; and, on the plus side, listeners can hear it more often this way.
