Arcadia

On her second album, L.A. singer/songwriter Lily Kershaw takes a dramatic turn right out of the gate with the radiant dream pop opener, Unrequited Night. Its a sound she hinted at on parts of her atmospheric 2018 EP Lost Angeles, though nothing in that set felt quite so ethereal or luminous as this opening salvo. A lifelong Los Angeleno, Kershaw made her formal debut with 2013s Midnight in the Garden, an album of winsome folk-pop centered around the thoughtful strains of As It Seems, her breakout song that had featured prominently on the CBS drama Criminal Minds a year before. Since then, she has kept up enough of a profile to keep fans interested, using her scattered singles and EPs to explore various new directions, many of which can be heard here on the full-length Arcadia. As a whole, its a significant departure from her debut with a number of fine tracks that cross an array of styles from the sultry Fleetwood Mac shimmer of Always & Forever to the haunted kalimba and harpsichord strains of Fears Become Wishes and the exultant baroque pop uplift of Here to Us. Produced in partnership with Ben Cooper, Kershaw layers her songs with glowing analog synths, unique orchestral elements, and misty harmonies, while still occasionally revisiting the strummy acoustic framework that marked her earlier work. Of that quieter fare, the hushed acoustic duet with Canadian songwriter Jon Bryant, The Sea, is a standout. Echoes of Lana Del Reys detached pop grandeur can be heard in some of Kershaws moody narratives, but by and large, Arcadia finds its own voice and pushes her into a more ambiguous and challenging creative territory. ~ Timothy Monger