Making Room for the Light

Arriving four years after a debut album that was entitled Both Ways Brighter, Making Room for the Light again finds jazz-inflected indie pop practitioner Mae Powell accentuating the positive -- or at least finding silver linings. The sophomore set was produced by new collaborator David Parry (Loving) but returns some of the same small crew of musicians from her debut. Powell compares her heart to a tangerine ("That I left in the bottom of my bag for three days and now everything smells like oranges") as well as a rotten apple ("Sticky sweet but also getting moldy) on the twangy, conflicted opener, "Tangerine." Its atmospheric Hammond organ and country-styled guitar help set a sunny stage for songs such as the sultry "Rope You In"; the lusher "Contact High," with its acoustic and 12-string electric guitar, Ace Tone organ, and rim clicks; and the breezy and lilting "Hot Headed," an affectionate tune that regrets giving in to anxiety sometimes. A couple of the more downcast entries here include the melancholy "It Comes in Waves" and the quieter "Invisibly," whose fingerstyle arpeggios underscore self-conscious lyrics about reaching out for the absent ("Connected underneath the trees/Like the flower and the bee"). The rest of the album is only sweeter, with tuneful highlights like the Billie Holiday-accented "Where Will Love Go?" considering her options after a breakup ("I could give it to myself") and "Meet Me in a Memory" inhabiting a sparse, Chris Isaak-type retro pop/rock that one can imagine playing over the end credits of a charming romantic comedy-drama, also called Making Room for Light. ~ Marcy Donelson