Stream Jenn & Basho’s Tarantula Arms

Maybe we’re getting wrapped up in the excitement of next week’s Americana Music Festival, but we’ve developed a big, big thing for folk duos. Our newest discovery is Jenn & Basho, a coed twosome out of Portland. Jenn sings, crooning her songs with a mix of low country twang and high lonesome warble, and Basho plays, tracing arcs around his bandmate’s melodies with acoustic guitars, strings, and whatever else he can get his hands on.

The result is Tarantula Arms, a record that’s stark at places and sweeping at others. Or, as Jenn puts it, “This album is part stray cat, part uphill battle and part love-always-wins.”

“Tarantula Arms represents the cool undercurrent of our society not often heard amid the uproar of 21st century life,” Basho adds. “The songs on this album were gleaned from the travels and travails of a young couple — Jenn and me — trying to make sense of the road’s twists and turns as they come into view. It is an unhurried and metered kaleidoscope of our time spent disconnected from the notion of ‘home.’”