Time Has Told Me by Nick Drake
Does Zach Bryan ever sleep? The wildly popular country singer-songwriter is also wildly prolific, dropping this surprise quintet of songs just weeks after releasing his massive self-titled album, itself coming on the heels of the string of loosies and EPs Bryan released in the year since blowing up with 2022’s <i>American Heartbreak</i>. <i>Boys of Faith</i> opens with “Nine Ball”, a new song whose roots-rock production hews closely to <i>Zach Bryan</i> tracks like “Overtime” and “Fear and Friday’s”. The tune is also reminiscent of Jason Isbell, a major influence on Bryan—particularly <i>Southeastern</i> deep cut “Super 8”, with its devil-may-care attitude, and <i>The Nashville Sound</i>’s wistful “Last of My Kind”. Noah Kahan joins Bryan on “Sarah’s Place”, the “Stick Season” singer-songwriter lending harmony vocals and sounding like he’s having a great time doing it. Bryan teased the title track, a collaboration with Bon Iver, on social media in advance of <i>Boys of Faith</i>’s release, with the somewhat surprising pairing sounding like two sides of the same downtrodden coin. While that collaboration may grab all the headlines, the EP also boasts a recorded version of “Deep Satin”, a fan favourite song of Bryan’s that many fans begged for after it didn’t make the tracklist on that self-titled LP. Its studio incarnation crackles with the same urgency found in the live versions floating around online, with gritty, off-the-cuff-sounding production to flesh it out. Bryan closes <i>Boys of Faith</i> with “Pain, Sweet, Pain”, another deserving unreleased tune getting the long-awaited studio treatment.
