THE AUTUMN DEFENSE, HERE AND NOWHERE

When John Stirratt and Pat Sansone formed The Autumn Defense in the late 1990s, it was a way to step outside their work with their band Wilco and make something that felt warm and melodic. Rooted in their shared love of soft pop, baroque folk, and the rich harmonies of the late sixties, the duo built songs that felt timeless, a blend of easy rhythms, quiet melancholy, and classic pop craftsmanship. 

More than a decade has now passed since their last album. They return with Here and Nowhere which was recorded with longtime bandmates Greg Wieczorek and James Haggerty. It’s a record that reflects the chemistry that’s carried the pair for twenty-five years. The sessions were live, tracked without click tracks, capturing the ease of musicians who have played together long enough to finish each other’s musical thoughts. The result is an album that breathes with soft drums, acoustic textures, and layered harmonies that draw from the artists who have always inspired them — The Zombies, The Kinks, Scott Walker, the Byrds, and Love’s Forever Changes. 

Beneath the record’s calm surface Sansone and Stirritt’s songs carry the awareness and weight of time, age, change, and continuity. “It’s hard not to get pretty reflective about it at this point,” Sansone said in a recent interview. “Our age, the way time moves, losing so many of our heroes. In a way, that’s what ‘The Ones’ is about. It’s about looking around and realizing that so many of the fixed stars are slipping away and trying to orient your inner life in a moment like that.” 

After more than ten years away, Here and Nowhere finds The Autumn Defense still doing what they have always done best, writing songs that sound unforced, played by musicians who understand how much beauty can exist in understatement. It's a welcome return, and this a meticulously crafted, wonderful album.