A strong, sensual, astronomy-themed third experimental album by the New York singer-songwriter, mixing gentle indie, dream pop, jazz and field recordings in this alluring contemplation on the heartbreaks and highs, the quarks and quasars that make up her universe. It follows the critically acclaimed 2021 album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, a particularly grief stricken and melancholic release. There’s a mix of styles here, not least five instrumental songs, including violin, cello, jazzy brass, and on Betelgeuse, in which she discusses astronomy with her mother. The settings are unusual too. The dreamy, synthy Delphinium Blue’s narrator works in a flower shop, and slowly lists her tasks, but also as an aside sings “I sweep the floors but I’m talking to you / I see your eyes in the delphinium too.” Petco, a slow but sure indie number is about visiting a pet shop, with details such staring “into the sideways glance of a lizard” to feel “less alone”. Solitude and touring come up too on Aurora, IL: “The bus left this morning, they took my name off the marquee / How long can I stare at the ceiling before it kills me?” she sings on Aurora, IL. On the same song she paraphrases Star Trek star William Shatner’s remark when it took an actual trip to space courtesy of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. “It’s a thin line over the planet / Just a thin line between us and nothingness.” There’s also another number on that space theme being Shatner’s Dream. Clams Casino is a catchy, soothing alt-rock fuzzy country-ish number. Gentle opener Devotion immediately grabs you with an arresting, double-edged line: “I think you’ve mistaken my desperation for devotion.” Omakese is one of the most serenely gorgeous tracks, with strings, dripping with melancholy and whispered voices and expanding on the album title phrase. Gentle bold, brooding, a thing of true beauty and maturity. Out on Dead Oceans.
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