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- Summary: Mike DeVito joins Courtney Werner and Evan Morgan for Magic Tuber Stringband's first full-length release as a trio. It was inspired by Courtney's work on ecological research project on possible radioactivity on wildlife at the Savannah River Site.
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- Record Label: Thrill Jockey
- Genre(s): Folk, Avant-Garde
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 6
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Mixed: 0 out of 6
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Negative: 0 out of 6
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May 26, 2026Extraordinarily skilled composers and improvisers, the Stringband’s playing and choices are impeccable throughout, but it’s their deep knowledge of folk music traditions – and the way the trio both subverts and reinforces those traditions – that really gives this music its shape.
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May 26, 2026Heavy Water is unique in its sonic remembrance of a more modern tragedy, one whose environmental and emotional repercussions are still being felt today.
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UncutMay 26, 2026Fiddle and banjo veer between gentle bucolic landscaping and clamorous cacophony, while occasional field recordings add further colour. [Jun 2026, p.33]
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Jun 8, 2026Heavy Water is, then, a spring and summer record with a powerful message about the inexorability of both natural processes and the forces unleashed by the human drive to dominate nature and other people. Kudos to Magic Tuber Stringband for consistently engaging both the head and the heart with their music.
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The WireJun 16, 2026The group, now a trio with the addition of bassist/banjoist Michael DeVito, have never blended their various interests so seamlessly and effectively. [Jul 2026, p.54]
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May 26, 2026Most of the noisier and more heavily manipulated tracks appear on the album’s less accessible A-side. For heady listeners, this will be a field day; for others, a test of faith. Stay the course. The luminescent B-side, a release valve for the intensity of Heavy Water’s first half, contains some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard in recent memory.