Opener ‘King of Hearts’ has the disarming simplicity and sincerity of Connie Converse, a quietly bright daydream of a song that finds hope and solace in human connection. “When the days feel like disasters,” Virginia sings, “skulls are thick and patience thin / We’ll put our feelings into words and sing ’em like the window birds / and love each other in the shape we’re in.”

A track that uses early-blooming yarrow as a metaphor for the vulnerability that can stem from rushed emotions, ‘Winter Flowers’ is reminiscent of the recent Natalie Jane Hill record Azalea in how it entwines the rhythms of us humans and the rest of the natural world. Like each song on the record, it has that slight background hiss of a home recording, a subtle enveloping warmth that gives Desert an authenticity that’s impossible to find inside a shiny studio surrounded by dials and equipment.

It’s February and the flowers bloomed too early
I’m worried for the yarrow in my yard
It felt the heat cause it was summer for a weekend
Now it’s naked and the nights are cold and long

The title track feels like a bus ride around the US, from the green mangroves of the south to the clear air of the northwest, where “Conifers bend their elbows in the sky and the lakes shimmer like sapphires in July.” But, as the title suggests, it’s the desert where Clara Virginia belongs, surrounded by “Endless sky and sand”, “No exit signs, just the blue and tan.”

You can buy Desert now from the Clara Virginia Bandcamp page.

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