St. Rangers "Witness Marks" EP Review
Review by: Katy Tessman, Writer @summit.presents
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @PlaylistTC
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Witness Marks” by St. Rangers (album cover)
In woodworking, “Witness Marks” are the small grooves carved to guide pieces back into place once they’ve been taken apart. It’s a simple act of craftsmanship, quiet, purposeful, and rooted in care. That same idea shapes Witness Marks, the debut EP from Twin Cities folk quartet St. Rangers. Across six songs and a brief spoken introduction, the band explores how people, too, are held together by the traces we leave on one another. These songs carry the patience of steady hands and the intimacy of shared work, finding beauty in the evidence of time well spent.
Founded by songwriters Garret Nasset (banjo, vocals) and Rachel Bearinger (guitar, vocals), St. Rangers grew out of the Minneapolis–St. Paul songwriter scene and expanded to include Josh Peterson (viola, vocals) and Olivia May (upright bass, vocals). Together they create a sound that feels both intricate and effortless, four voices and instruments moving with unspoken understanding.
A faded wall showing the outlines of old photographs and plaques serves as the EP’s visual cue, a reminder that even when the pictures are gone, the impressions remain. The same is true of the music inside: these songs trace memory, friendship, and loss with a gentle precision that honors what came before without trying to rebuild it exactly as it was.
“Vintage Car” opens the record in the best spirit of folk tradition, turning a simple memory into a shared story. It moves with the rhythm of a road well traveled, weaving personal reflection into something universal.
Seamlessly, “New Song” shifts gears. It feels like a long drive through the countryside, familiar, reflective, threaded with responsibility. It is about growing into adulthood and learning that joy and burden often travel together. Nasset’s lead vocal carries both ache and acceptance, while Bearinger’s harmonies serve as a reminder that we are not alone on this journey.
St. Rangers’ version of Adrianne Lenker’s “Anything” fits naturally within the album’s reflective tone. Bearinger’s lead vocals carry the song’s fragile story with warmth and restraint, while the viola drifts gently around her voice, carrying the melodies and deepening the sense of quiet yearning.
“Ghost Town Waltz” leans into the folk storytelling tradition, a nostalgic tale brought to life through the band’s gentle touch. The viola truly shines here, weaving expressive solos that guide the story and linger long after the final note.
Then comes “Wellness Check,” the emotional heart of the EP. What begins as a song about checking in on a neighbor becomes a quiet elegy for a life discovered too late. Through spare, vivid details such as family photos lining hallway walls, a video image burned on the TV screen, and notches on a doorframe showing years of growth, St. Rangers captures the hollow silence that follows loss. The performance is tender and devastating, grief delivered without theatrics.
At its center lies the lyric that defines the record’s soul: “Oh, my heart skips a beat when I see these witness marks / Oh, a part of me feels like I was there from the start.” That couplet turns the title into revelation. Witness marks are no longer just grooves in wood; they are the physical proof of memory, the evidence that love once occupied space. It is an acknowledgment that absence itself can bear testimony, a reminder that noticing is its own form of devotion.
After that ache, the closer “Wash Over Me” arrives as a gentle release. Its rolling rhythm and sing-along chorus radiate hope. The song aches for the simplicity of childhood, for wonder before worry, but never denies the wisdom that comes with growing older. When the final refrain drifts away, you do not feel sorrow so much as gratitude for having felt at all.
By the end of “Wash Over Me,” it becomes clear that Witness Marks is not about sadness but about remembering. Bearinger’s lead guitarwork is impressive in its intricacy and beauty, guiding the song with both skill and sensitivity.
St. Rangers makes room for grief yet fills that space with grace, creating music that doesn’t cling to the past but quietly gives thanks before moving forward. Throughout Witness Marks, the four musicians play with quiet empathy. Nasset’s distinctive voice and banjo keep time like a pulse; May’s upright bass grounds the songs in warmth; Peterson’s viola paints edges of dancing melancholy; and Bearinger’s guitar and strong vocals hold the stories steady. Their harmonies never compete; they converse. The result is a rare kind of calm, music that trusts you to meet it halfway.
The production matches the intimacy. Recorded by Garret Nasset, mixed by Mason Meyers, and mastered by Kevin Feidt at Greenway Recording, the EP sounds immediate and real. No gloss, no pretense, just presence.
Witness Marks is a luminous, unhurried debut from a band that already understands what many never learn: that gentleness carries its own kind of power. These young folkies are old souls, bonded by friendship, their harmonies stitched with kindness. Listening to them feels like joining a circle of voices around a campfire — no spotlight, no stage, just songs shared freely in the dark, warming everyone who draws near.
