Year Away

The fifth long-player from 70s singer/songwriter disciple Kacey Johansing, Year Away was written during the turmoil of 2020, a year tainted not only by the arrival of a worldwide pandemic and its related upheaval but, in Johansings case, the unrelated impending death of a friend. The first song she wrote for the album, "Daffodils," was composed in one sitting in March 2020 after learning about her friends condition. Using the brief lifespan of a flower as a metaphor, the songs lilting melody gradually guides instrumentation from simple piano to something flourishing with driving bass and drums, shimmering synths, Mellotron, flute, vibraphone, and more in a swirl of reverb. As uplifting as it is grief-stricken, the songs sentiments include stanzas such as "Yellow to remind us how to feel/Wilting to remind us this is real." As incoming requests for musical collaboration dried up and a portion of the community actually moved away, Johansing turned to writing at her piano, and the rest of the Year Away comes far from suffering in comparison. She was eventually able to gather with others in various area studios, and the albums impressive list of contributors includes co-producer Tim Ramsey (Fruit Bats, Martin Courtney), engineer Tyler Karmen (MGMT, Alvvays), mixer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith), and performers such as Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Hand Habits Meg Duffy, and the rhythm section of bassist Todd Dahlhoff (Feist, Devendra Banhart) and Josh Adams (Jenny Lewis, Devendra Banhart). Duffys guitar handiwork can be heard on the melancholy, 70s R&B-infused "Watch It Like a Show," which regrets that "We’ve burned down everything we know/Ignored the fires and the floods and the overflow/And sit around and watch it like a show." Cited album influence Burt Bacharachs pull is perhaps most conspicuous on the dramatic title track ("So what will you have to say after a year away?"), on which Johansing pushes her vocal range into previously unexplored heights before landing on a wistful, prolonged sigh of "you." An album full of poignant highlights, the ten-song set closes on "Endless Sound," a lush, spacy state-of-the-world lament featuring airy backing vocals by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith alongside a cast of others, including string players Amir Yaghmai (HAIM, the Voidz) and Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo, Coco). A standout in an already strong catalog for its timely big-picture and personal sentiments as well as its songcraft and musicianship, Year Away is a must for fans of the singer/songwriter era. ~ Marcy Donelson