“Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces” by The Jayhawks

"Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces" comes off Paging Mr. Proust, the ninth studio album from alt-country lifers the Jayhawks, released in 2016. Gary Louris, the band's principal songwriter, wrote it, working the songs up as demos in his home studio before the band ever heard them, and he produced it with Peter Buck and Tucker Martine, who also engineered and mixed.

Mark Olson had come and gone again by then, so this is the Smile-era lineup back together: Louris on guitar and synthesizer, Kraig Jarret Johnson on electric guitar, Marc Perlman on bass, Karen Grotberg on keys and Tim O'Reagan on drums and percussion, with Louris, Grotberg and O'Reagan all singing. Johnson, a former member, pitched in on the record and left again before the tour. The harmonies do the heavy lifting here, soft and a little haunted, like a porch light left on for somebody who isn't coming back.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.