Don't Let the Ink Dry＜限定盤＞

A singer and songwriter based in London, Eve Owen was still a teenager when she spent three summer breaks writing and tracking her debut album in New York with the Nationals Aaron Dessner. In the meantime, she lent her distinctively plaintive, woodsy alto to live dates with the band and to their 2019 release I Am Easy to Find. Arriving a year later, Dont Let the Ink Dry presents a sonic palette in tune with Owens voice. Its a warm, textured indie folk that seamlessly incorporates electronics as part of its consistently brooding, sepia-toned temper. Also lending their talents to the record were such high-caliber guests as Thomas Bartlett and Rob Moose, both accomplished indie producers in their own right. Song titles like Blue Moon, Lover Not Today, and I Used to Dream in Color capture the spirit of the set, which starts with a couple seconds of airy, unidentifiable ambient noise before Owens quietly urgent voice and acoustic guitar join in. An intimate song about isolation (All at once you walk away/Blindly to another day), it adds piano, distorted bass and percussion, and eventually strings, all of which only reinforce its ethereal, haunted quality. Though Mother opens with electronic drum samples and strummed electric guitar, it seems no less restrained and pastoral, as Owens melancholy vocals and lilting melody overtake mostly stagnant chords. Instead, its live drums that become more active as the song progresses. Tracks like She Says and Blue Moon have more dramatic, passionate vocal lines, but the cloud-covered atmospheres of Dont Let the Ink Dry never pass. Its an album anchored in unsettled rumination, with compellingly grainy surfaces that reveal either the expertise of its accomplished collaborators or a sophistication beyond Owens years -- likely both. ~ Marcy Donelson