Two Sheds
Assembling
CROSSBILL
7/10
In 2005, Caitlin Gutenberger started Two Sheds as part of a dare from her husband. Six years and another dare—write twenty songs in twenty-four hours—later, the singer-songwriter’s second LP Assembling was born. Gutenberger’s sophomore release leads off with the gauzy and haunting “Come Home,” her voice cooing with such gravity atop the album’s pristine, uncluttered production. The album continues with the bold but simple statement: “I Am My Own.” Gutenberger declares this over and over again within the jangly track, seemingly unaware of her powerful female influences seeping into her sincere work. Within the nooks and crannies of Assembling’s fourteen tracks, there are echoes of Cat Power’s sullen bar ballads, Courtney Barnett’s fuzz-drenched guitars, Sharon Van Etten’s elegant vocals, and Angel Olsen’s eerie intensity. It might seem reductive to compare Two Sheds to so many contemporaries, but it doesn’t undercut the talent that lies within. It simply proves that she’s in good company.
