Once Great Estate
Authentic tones and style with “Austin”
Once Great Estate is an Americana quartet based in northern Florida with 20 released songs under the belt (1 record, 1 EP and 8 singles). The project is centered around singer / songwriter Tracy Horenbein, with Jeffrey Chagnon on bass, F. Matthew Burns on guitar and mandolin, Christopher Ash on fiddle and guitar, and drummer Steve Burke. They’ve been described as “Cinematic Southern Rock” and “Americana,” we would call it “Atmospheric Alt Country.” Here’s our review of their single, “Austin.“
The track is an atmosphere in an of itself. It feels like a live recording, with solid analog tones and frequencies. Tracy’s voice has a raspiness to it that keeps you engaged in the story, like she’s experienced every syllable of the writings. The male BG’s are a great compliment to her tone, and the ooh’s and ahh’s tucked away in the back add to the tracks’ mystique (like faraway clouds at sunset). Rhythmically, it’s a loose swing that adds an interesting component to the verses and brings a different life to the solo section. Smart play. Lyrically, it feels like a vagabonds tale about the city and its surrounding vibe, the sacrifices of those before us, and the hard choices we all have to make. Maybe this is a stretch, but we believe she’s writing about the timing of those decisions when we’re in the midst of our natural surroundings, and how that has an influence. Great lyrics. Aside from Tracy’s voice, our favorite parts are definitely the electric guitar lines that are tender in the right sections, and swing like a hammer in others. Beautiful hollow body distortion and tube amps, nice note choice on the solos, great phrasing - solid work. Thankfully, there’s no synthesizers are anything electronic about this track. It’s raw. It’s dry. It leaves you drained at the end, like a hot Texas summer day. But, at least you have the sunset in Austin to enjoy.
Make sure you check out their other works on Spotify, “Captain” is one of our favorites, as well as “Cold War.” North Florida is a great spot for gigs in the winter time and they do a good job of keeping their calendar updated on their website. Theirs is a sound that translates well to the Southern and American crowd, it should keep them pretty busy in the future if they keep writing tracks like this one.