Graceful, evocative, and approachable, Never Learned The Tide is the second full-length from Raleigh, North Carolina’s Twilark, the fledgling project of songwriter Canon Pence, whose articulate and wry but tender approach to Americana-inflected indie folk places him securely in a long list of similar artists. But this music is too personal, too full of Pence’s personality, to be anything but his own work, totally unique in its vivid character. Past work has been called “enchanting” by The Big Takeover and “an absolute delight” by Tonic Grain. And Never Learned The Tide is another, even more surefooted step forward.

The light touch of Pence’s voice establishes the spirit of this music, his meticulous storytelling and fine-tuned sense of the melancholic and ruminative. And it’s all shot through with a sense of gallows humor and a commitment to spontaneity and authenticity rather than perfection or self-seriousness. These values are even reflected in the album art which was created using a printing press and real book cloth; tactile and playful, touched by human hands. 

While the song arrangements were largely formed intuitively in the studio, Never Learned The Tide doesn’t feel rough around the edges. The album’s ease may have as much to do with Pence’s collaborators as his own thoughtful composition. Gorgeous pedal steel guitar glides across the length of the record thanks to the incomparable Spencer Cullum, while Maya De Vitry’s banjo and fiddle pulls songs together with poignant grace. And Erin Rae’s generous vocal harmonies provide swells of color to Pence’s melodies. With production helmed by Dominic Billett, these twelve songs were recorded over the course of just six days, live-in-the-studio, the band all within arms reach. 

Born in the rural foothills of Western North Carolina and having spent his life in NC, Pence’s roots run deep. And there is something about Twilark that captures those landscapes and the long memories buried within them. It’s this same quality Bandcamp noted as “stirring, recalling the classic era of indie folk” when awarding The Taming Ties Create the honor of New and Notable. But there are dimensions to this music. Pence names the Mashed Potato Records compilations as an original inspiration for Never Learned The Tide, even a kind of guiding framework. Those records, mostly recorded in New Orleans, are overflowing with charm and reverent but freewheeling references to American roots music: folk, blues, and rock ‘n roll. While Never Learned The Tide is considerably cleaner than the kind of garage session vibe that defines those records, it’s clear there is a deeper connection, a spirit of timelessness. It’s something which will also be appreciated by fans of Simon Joyner, Myriam Gendron or Michael Hurley.

Throughout this set of songs, the theme of reflection emerges again and again, both as a literal phenomenon and in self-discovery, awareness. It’s an effective device, sometimes dark, but often presented with a sense of levity and that aforementioned wryness. There’s a complexity, even a tenderness to the sense of humor here. As Pence himself says of the track “All Things Will Fade”: “I like the cheery optimism of saying everything ends.” Never Learned The Tide trades in just this kind of complexity, a harmonizing between the cheerful and the somber, hemmed with a gentle joke.