A gorgeous, wonderfully warm, passionate, genuine, fresh, unusually voiced, tender and intimate debut of folk- and acoustic pop by the hugely talented 20-year-old North Carolina-born and LA-raised singer-songwriter. Her voice contains a delicate flutter and whisper that is instantly recognisable, bringing a sensitive, intimate vulnerability to these gentle, emotionally potent numbers that chart a pattern of wonder and growing, backed by acoustic guitar, bass and chamber strings. Opener The Sky starts with a tentative low-key style, but builds into a joyous expanse of sound and image. Jim (“he’s nowhere near my kin, he’s just a friend, his name is Jim. He’s got real long limbs, tender skin, he’s just a friend but no one knows him”) is an eccentric, gentle number with drip-sound beat, and profiles an oddball, feral, disappearing character that may be a figment of the imagination, an imaginary friend. Again it’s a song that builds into a powerful swell of sound. Right Person, Wrong Time is a beautiful, acoustic questioning relationship song, God is an ambient, electronica-fused meditation of self and existence, Stranger a wonderful, passionate slow-paced stomp. Perhaps the most powerful is Hey Mama, a string sweeping, warm number that examines the complexities of communication of miss-you-love-you-hate-you in a mother-daughter relationship. Stick Man is shivers beautiful along to a simple piano chord sequence, while the single Racecar is another tinkly piano number with a gorgeous warmth and a talky-sung delivery with an extended metaphor about identity, escape, spreading your wings (or indeed wheels). Waited All The While has a Nick Drake feel guitar and bass, with added shaker rhythm and Patterson’s gorgeous ghostly delivery that sometimes has echoes with Scotland’s Katherine Joseph. Closer I Can See The Mountains From Here, meditating on a relationship, completes a divinely beautiful, heartfelt set of songs that feel freely experimental, candid and fabulously refreshing collection. An outstanding, unique and unusual debut. Out on Ozella’s Child and Many Hats.
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