With their third album ‘Circle the Dream’, Nom De Plume continue their quiet transformation from an indie-folk act with Americana leanings into something more elusive and experimental. The Maryland-via-Wyoming duo of Aris Karabelas and Michael Magee have long been celebrated for their lyrical honesty and melodic warmth, but this release pushes their sound into new territory.
The record opens with ‘While My Eyes Gently Weep’, featuring Jon Notar, and is the record at its most stripped-back, a fragile ballad capturing grief in its quietest form. Following is the title-track, a sweepingly delicate piece that layers acoustic guitar, strings, and stacked harmonies until it feels almost cathedral-like in its release. It sets the tone for an album preoccupied with resilience, learning how to carry sorrow without letting it weigh you down.
‘Fly’ follows with its eerie pedal steel and subtle vocal layering, creating one of the album’s most spectral moments; like a folksy Pink Floyd. Its dissonant chords embody the song’s central tension of wanting to transcend while being pulled back by earthly gravity.Â
But ‘Circle the Dream’ isn’t all sombre introspection. ‘Lazy’ injects a touch of brightness, with its breezier Americana sway, while ‘We’re All Like That’ feels like a communal singalong disguised as indie-folk. The band’s knack for contrast shines on ‘The Shadow’, already hailed by critics as a standout, which folds experimental textures into a song that still aches with emotion.
What holds the album together is Karabelas’s voice and Magee’s bass, which moves like an undercurrent through even the most delicate arrangements. Their collaborative chemistry allows ‘Circle the Dream’ to stretch wide without losing coherence, each track pulling from folk and rock traditions while bending them their own way.
At its heart, this album is about endurance: how we keep going when life feels heavy, and how we find beauty in the midst of uncertainty. Nom De Plume don’t offer easy answers, but they give us something better; a soundscape to inhabit, equal parts aching and affirming. With ‘Circle the Dream’, they’ve delivered a record that rewards both deep listening and quiet reflection, marking their most ambitious step yet.
