If I Was

Watford meets Wisconsin on this stately second album from sibling trio The Staves. Produced by Justin Vernon, and recorded in his remote midwest studio, <i>If I Was</i> undoubtedly bears the nu-folk imprint of the Bon Iver woodsman—who lends grizzled cowboy vocals to “Make It Holy”—but the Stavely-Taylor sisters are resolutely the stars of their own show. And their luscious, crisp harmonies (whether backed by ragged riffs on “Black & White” or layered into a hummingbird refrain on “Let Me Down”) are a persistent, otherworldly delight.