Buck’s Harbour Bottled Self-Effacing Humility in the Alt-Folk Indie Single ‘Stick Around’ –

Buck’s Harbour knelt at the altar of humility in Stick Around, the sardonic heartstring-puller that closes out the debut EP, Figuring Out How Not to Be a Jerk. Through a lens fogged with hazy folk-punk warmth, the Boston-based artist, known off-stage as Ethan Warren, channels the jangly soul of Americana into an internal monologue that spills out like it’s been marinating for years.

No song should sound this disarmingly light while dismantling the fear that one’s quirks could tip the scales of affection. But Stick Around knows how to dress a vulnerability wound with harmonies so Beach Boys-esque you’d swear they had skin in the game. While the single roots itself in the bittersweet, it steers miles clear of pretence. With a sonic palette tinged with melancholy yet never moping, it lets the listener nestle into the kind of emotion that rarely asks for permission to stay.

The lyricism spirals around self-doubt, hope, and the fragile dance of connection, yet there’s nothing overwrought about it. With one hand in a lo-fi folk pocket and the other scribbling in an indie diary of ironic quips and soft pleas, Buck’s Harbour proves that awkward emotional honesty will always be the most touching flavour of cool.

Stick Around is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast