Spring

Following Open to Chance, her first album to feature a backing band, by three years, Spring is the fourth overall effort from Itasca, the alias of indie folk balladeer Kayla Cohen. Collaborative or not, all four records are populated by the songwriters gentle, fingerpicked tunes and evocative lyrics, inspired here by her temporary relocating from L.A. to rural New Mexico to write. Specifically influenced by the regions diverse landscapes, highway apparitions, and the isolation she experienced, the resulting songs were recorded to tape with members of Gun Outfit and Sun Araw. On an album where everything is soft and bucolic, notable behind-the-scenes collaborators include James Elkington, who provided atmospheric string arrangements, and singer/songwriter Chris Cohen, who mixed the record. Opening track Lily refers to hallucinations of a water lily that took place on the songwriters drive from Los Angeles. Acoustic guitar and gossamer vocals set the scene with I was looking down the road at Lily/Hundred miles past the end of the highway. Spacy organ tones and light percussion eventually flesh out the recollection, which ends with the phrase Lilys dancing on the skyline. The songs dreamy, ruminative quality is maintained throughout Spring, which remains understated even on relatively more animated tracks like Only a Traveler and As Lament, which add a rhythm section. Even Bess Dance, which offers spare drums, bass, piano, and occasional strings, is ultimately a storyteller-and-guitar tune, largely due to Cohens understated and often mesmerizing vocals. A sleepier song like Blue Spring, which features pedal steel and sparse, strummed guitar, only provides contrast within a very narrow range of expression here, like when eyes adjust to dim nocturnal lighting, then notice the shadow of a stray moth. ~ Marcy Donelson