Since covering album Dissolving in Dusk back in 2021 we’ve admire Jack Keyes’s ability to braid his intimate folk style with something a little more experimental, and latest single ‘The Door’ is no exception. Intending to explore the sometimes hazy space of miscommunication that exists between people, the song pairs a layered vocal style with its languid rhythm. A sound that splits the difference between a romantic folk and the melancholic reflection of Fog Lake or German Error Message.

But running parallel to these moods is something a little unnerving too. A thread of eeriness which seems to emanate from intimacy and the subconscious fears around it. “Had a strange nightmare / that you couldn’t hear me shout,” as the song opens, “though I saw you there, something shut us out.” The rest of the track walks along this line of dream logic, where strangeness and romance slot side by side as though there was barely a distinction between the two.

‘The Door’ is out now and available from the usual places.

The post Jack Keyes – The Door appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The title of Adam Spry’s forthcoming album Slightly Off Kilter gives a hint as to what to expect from the San Francisco songwriter. Dispatches from an artist somewhat out of whack with the world, trying to create and communicate in a society which hardly values such things. But with wry humour and a few coats of seventies rock polish, Spry plants his flag regardless, and single ‘Rotten Mausoleum’ captures the bravery of such an act with its tongue-in-cheek humour, however futile it might seem. “Walking through the streets of Rome, I kept picturing an emperor who ‘went into the family business’ so to speak,” Spry explains of his inspiration. “He just wanted to play the lute and study philosophy with his friends. Sick and tired of the class disparity around him, he decided to have the old statues torn down. He was of course killed and replaced with someone who would rule with an iron fist and was subsequently erased from history.”

Emperor made of marble
All you do is stare
Rotten Mausoleum
There’s someone in my chair

Check out the video filmed by Spry himself and edited by Matt Kreizenbeck below:

Slightly Off Kilter will be released on the 24th March and you can pre-order it now.

Bailey Miller – cul-de-sac

“A sound best described as translucent,” was how we described Bailey Miller’s Still Water, released last year on Whited Sepulchre Records. “Not too clear, not too fogged, any ethereality countered by directness, yet nothing allowed to be too grounded for long.” This February sees Miller return with love is a dying, a follow-up record which forgoes some of the nuance and layering in favour of a more forthright tone. Directness as the prime focus. Intention unmasked and offered up. Single ‘cul-de-sac’ gives an indication of what such a change sounds like, its hushed and understated style made almost cavernous by the sense of space Miller conjures around it. An echo which carries the full weight of the dark which surrounds any instance of love.

Crosslegged – Automatic

Ahead of brand new full-length Another Blue, which releases at the end of the month, Keba Robinson’s Crosslegged has unveiled a new track, ‘Automatic’. The album’s second single following the playfully undulating ‘Only in The’, ‘Automatic’ is a tender and assured grower, its spacious sound unfurling into an all-encompassing warmth before folding back up again, Robinson controlling the mood with an expert hand. By the close the listener is cast out into a hazy drift, anchored only by the crooned vocals, a safe hand ever-present allowing you to close your eyes and enjoy the float.

En Attendant Ana – Same Old Story

Ahead of their new LP, Principa, out next month via Trouble in Mind, Paris-based En Attendant Ana have unveiled single ‘Same Old Story’ to give an indication as to what to expect. A blend of playful indie pop rhythms and post-punk angles, the track whips up a detailed and often disorientating sound, pitching the listener into a funhouse room of mirrors with only the smooth clarity of Margaux Bouchaudon’s vocals as a guide. The sound is intended to represent the band as they appear “behind closed doors,” as they put it, “locked in a mortifying loop, repeating over and over the same gestures of a banal and falsely comfortable scene… until exhaustion,” leading to a sound which captures the idiosyncratic combination of escalation and fatigue typical of a racing mind.

Principa is out on the 24th February and you can pre-order it now.

Grocer – Downtown Side

Following on from last year’s Number’s Game, Philadelphia‘s Grocer are set to return with a brand new EP Scatter Plot on Grind Select. Single ‘Downtown Side’ shows the band pushing further into the volatile blend of pop charm and angular dissonance which has come to be their signature, this time utilising the frantic, twitchy energy to capture personal experiences of anxiety and unease. Because the lyrics deal with lead Nicholas Rahn’s experience of living with Vasovagal Syncope, a condition where specific triggers can cause him to faint, and moreover the secondary anxieties which come along with it. Including the very real fear “that at any given point in time,” as he puts it, “I am actually unconscious and simply experiencing a lifelike dream.”

then I realized…
Was I even alive?
I coulda passed out cold on my walk from home
I could be bleeding from my head on the side of the curb
Am I dreaming that I’m even waiting for a dessert?

Jack Keyes – Skyscraper

Across a series of albums and singles in recent years, Kentucky-based songwriter Jack Keyes has developed a warm and intimate sound somewhere between folk and bedroom pop. With a new full-length due later this year, new single ‘Skyscraper’ serves as both an acknowledgement of collaboration and a reminder to trust one’s own tastes. “[The single] is a celebration of the wonderful musical community I’ve found in Kentucky,” Keyes says “with contributions from friends I’ve met throughout my musical journey in town,” but also “about wanting to be more comfortable in my own choices and in my own skin.” A song which feels like an artist taking stock of how far they have come before setting off on a new journey.

Joanna Mattrey & Steven Long – EP

Next month Joanna Mattrey & Steven Long will release their debut full-length Strider on Dear Life Records. An ambient album written and recorded with a clear set of rules: each track must revolve around one idea and one idea alone. But while this seemingly spartan approach might stand distinct in a genre prone to ambiguous meanderings, Mattrey and Long were endlessly inventive within each song, looking everywhere for possible sounds. That includes a variety of synths, a toy keyboard, a seventies electric Kimball organ and the “curious and magical” Stroh Violin, as well as field recordings
of ice clashing in the Hudson river. Not to mention, as per the liner notes, how the pair “banged, blew on, and bowed various dusty pieces of junk, antiques, and old metal franklin stoves that filled [Mattrey’s] family’s house in upstate New York.”

Jonny G and the Music Factory – Life of Jonny

Next month, Jonny G and the Music Factory (AKA Jonny Gundersen) is releasing his debut full-length album Life of Jonny via Bud Tapes. Having been working as a musician for over decade, the record finds Gundersen in a pretty unique position—in possession of all the hard-won experience required to craft a collection of meaningful songs, yet still retaining the freshness and freedom which comes with a debut. Both the lead single and opener, the title track highlights how powerful such a mix can be, living up to its title to cast an eye over Gundersen’s life and paint a nuanced picture of living and creating. Highly personal details to capture something more universal, from the experience of existing within a working class space to the ups and downs of life in general. What changes within a person, what proves enduring.

Moved back home.
Life is change
I have changed
and now I’m changing again

Pile – Nude With A Suitcase

With new LP All Fiction arriving next month on Exploding in Sound, rock stalwarts Pile have been sharing numerous singles over recent weeks, from the frantic motion of ‘Loops’ to the slow tilting heft of ‘Poisons’. Latest track ‘Nude With A Suitcase’ is no less striking, a dense, tenebrous song which invites the listener inside its cryptic world with what might be alluring shimmer or ominous dread. A fitting ambiguity for an record built around subjectivity and its disorientating pressures, forcing the listener to sit down and examine just what is unfolding around them, even if there is no correct answer at all. Watch the video by Sam Circle with animation from Lynn Tomlinson below:

All Fiction is out on the 17th February via Exploding In Sound and you can pre-order it now.

Romanie – Anthony

Belgian born, Naarm/Melbourne based songwriter Romanie has never been afraid to push into personal territory in her music. 2021’s Little Big Steps delved into themes of loneliness and self-doubt, but new single ‘Anthony’ cuts especially close to the bone. Written after seeing Anthony Hopkins in The Father, and in the aftermath of losing a close relative with dementia, the track combines a pressing energy with passionate delivery to confront the cruelty of the illness while declaring an unwavering love. A promise to go on caring and remembering no matter what is taken away.

Sad Girls Aquatics Club – Who’s Your Witness

A self-described “dramatic duo” from Pittsburgh, PA, Sad Girls Aquatics Club specialise in what they describe as “breakup pop”. First announcing themselves with debut EP Vodkawine back in 2018, the pair (Chelsea Rumbaugh and Marie Mashyna) make sharp and slightly melancholy pop songs that combine personal angst and a sense of wider social critique. They now have a full-length record on the way, and have recently released a couple of singles in anticipation of its release. ‘Who’s Your Witness’ might be the standout, a somewhat facetious wave goodbye to someone or thing that has outstayed its welcome, all wrapped in a 90s alt-rock fuzz.

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LA-born, Nashville-based songwriter Alicia Blue has just released her most recent EP Inner Child Work via Magnetic Moon, and opening track ‘DTMTS (Don’t Tell Me To Smile)’ serves as the perfect introduction to her work. A song which seizes upon the pressure to present yourself a certain way, even when the world is overwhelming and smiling is the last thing on your mind. “I’m a real thing,” Blue sings, “If you want to be with me / know that sometimes the sun’s not going to shine.”

Inner Child Work is out now via Magnetic Moon and available at the usual places.

Angel Saint Queen – Diablo Lake

The product of a months-long road trip, Angel Saint Queen’s ‘Diablo Lake’ takes in the range of the American landscape, be it wide-sky deserts of Utah to the rainy mountains of the Pacific Northwest. A track which highlights the duo’s bittersweet tone, capturing a sadness for leaving and excitement for what comes next. A little wistful, a little upbeat, ready to roll the windows down and ride on through to whatever place should pop up next.

‘Diablo Lake’ is out now and available via streaming services.

First Rodeo – Didn’t It Rain Last Night

There’s a certain old-time charm to Portland‘s First Rodeo. A collaborative project between Nathan Tucker and Tim Howe, their sound has more than one foot in classic country rock. But there’s a contemporary freshness to the sound too, meaning wherever their boots are planted, there’s no question they are facing out over fresh ground. Lead single ‘Didn’t It Rain Last Night’ is the perfect introduction, a song contemplative and sometimes melancholic, its Americana roots accentuated by Sam Wenc‘s bowed banjo, though infused with a confident rhythm which rubs off on everything.

Goon – Emily Says

Fresh from releasing album Paint By Numbers, Volume 1 back in February, LA’s Goon are already back with brand new record, Hour of Green Evening. Described as the band’s “most complete statement,” the album sees Goon combine everything which came before to realise their most polished and detailed sound yet. Single ‘Emily Says’ shows off just how evocative this can be. A love song dedicated to frontman Kenny Becker’s wife Emily Elkin which celebrates the transformational power of forming a bond while acknowledging it cannot alleviate all external ills.

it hinges here in the air
a garden in wait
blanket of sunshine
and i’m like “i wanna be there”
and emily says “hope still appears”
and though i know in my heart it’s right
feeling like hurting myself tonight
nobody’s candle is burning bright
the wind inside the blades of grass will unbind it

Hour of Green Evening is out now and you get it from the Goon Bandcamp page.

Indigo Sparke – Pressure in My Chest

This October sees Australian songwriter Indigo Sparke return with their second full-length album, Hysteria, on Sacred Bones. With focus on themes of love, loss, history and reconciliation, the record is a raw yet far-reaching collection of songs, pushing beyond the relative minimalism of debut echo yet retaining the intimacy at its core. Lead single ‘Pressure in My Chest’ pitches the listener straight into the deep and honest sound, building with the slow intensity suggested by the title until its cathartic conclusion.

Jack Keyes – The Moon is Too High

Louisville songwriter Jack Keyes released his second record Dissolving in Dusk this month, an album we’ve described previously as “wrapped in an easy-going sincerity that holds both melancholy and fondness.” After ‘Grey Balloons‘ offered a conflicted picture of a relationship slipping away, final single ‘The Moon is Too High’ searches for a way in which to appreciate the present moment, however difficult and fleeting it might seem, with an endearingly lo-fi and intimate sound.

Kramies – Hotel in LA

With a brand of folk-inflected dream pop willing to combine history with folklore and myth, Kramies has made a name across several acclaimed EPs, but this September sees the release of a self-titled debut full-length on Hidden Shoal. Featuring Todd Tobias (Guided By Voices), Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) and Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses), the record offers a layered, ethereal sound which challenges the distinction between real and dreams when contemplating the past. Which is something single ‘Hotel in LA’ captures perfectly. “It kind of follows that timeline of my life where there was a beautiful blur between the lines of what was real and what was nostalgia in the making,” he explains. A space in which experiences are processed into memories, and all the emotional significance attached. Check out the video by Derek Lee LaJoie below:

Kramies is out on the 9th September via Hidden Shoal.

Lee Baggett – Fruit Dog

Born in the Philippines, Lee Baggett moved to Sanger, California as a kid, going on to form a band in high school and becoming part of the San Luis Obispo music scene through the eighties and nineties in bands like Unknown Origin and Fever Tree. Work with Kyle Field’s Little Wings and the Be Gulls followed, as well as a solo career which stretches right through to the present with Anyway, a new record coming soon on Perpetual Doom. Single ‘Fruit Dog’ taps into this history, like a long-lost seventies summer jam complete with a surreal slacker spirit which captures that easy-going West Coast swagger.

 Nwando Ebizie – Myrrha

Nwando Ebizie is a multidisciplinary Afrofuturist artist gearing up to release debut album The Swan this month on Accidental Records. A lesson in speculative world building, the release conjures an fictional matriarchal society which feels both timeless and utopian, Ebizie’s use of found sound and footage bending the lines between the historical past and imagined futures. An enthography of what was and what could be. Described as “a lament,” single ‘Myrrha’ confronts the intricate relationship between pain and change, finding space to mourn and celebrate those who have suffered through a process of transformation.

The Pleasure Majenta – Gardens

Hailing from New Zealand and now based in Berlin, The Pleasure Majenta craft a deliciously dark sound which draws upon goth and noise influences with a cowboy twang too. Their latest record Looming, the Spindle came out recently on Dedstrange, and final single ‘Gardens’ serves as a great introduction for the uninitiated. Opening with a palpable foreboding, the track coalesces around itself with shadowy grace, the mood decidedly Lynchian as it unfurls, beckoning the listener further into its slowly sashaying heart. Check out the video filmed, directed and edited by Anna Winslow below:

Looming, the Spindle is out now via Dedstrange and you can grab it from The Pleasure Majenta Bandcamp page.

Sun Kin – I Wanna Believe

Following on from ambient EP Painting Whales, Part 1 earlier this year, Kabir Kumar has turned Sun Kin back toward a more indie pop direction with new single, ‘I Wanna Believe’. A bright, smooth track packed with upbeat energy and heartfelt emotion, its tone never quite erring on the side of irony or sincerity but instead embracing a duality within its retro glitz. On the one hand there’s a playful side (“I wanna believe in love / I’m eating a chocolate bar named for loneliness”) but there’s a more earnest thread to the track too. What Kumar describes as about “gaining love by treating it as a spiritual foundation.”

vireo – Coyote

Following on from 2019’s leaf heap, an album we described as “slow and patient and peaceful as the late autumn dusk,” Pittsburgh‘s vireo are set to return with brand new record, Moss Longing. Lead single ‘Coyote’ introduces a collection of songs centring around “climate anxiety, folklore, wanderlust and children’s books,” its careful folk pop sound blossoming gradually into something bright and affirming, the vocals of lead Chris Beaulieu shaded by a sense of sadness but not beholden to it.

Moss Longing is due to be released on 18th August. Pre-save on Spotify, or keep on eye on the vireo Bandcamp page for pre-order info.

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Unveiling an upcoming EP of the same name on Future Gods, Anni Rossi‘s ‘Wild West‘ established the artistic vision of the Brooklyn-based songwriter, performer and multi-instrumentalist. The EP, collaboration with cinematographer Sarah Tricker, sits “at the intersection of various modes of expression,” we wrote, “ideally placed to draw from [audio-visual] fields to create singular and inventive pieces of work.” New single ‘Chasing the Tiger’ follows with another evocative sound, the piano helping find a delicate balance between the ethereal and the human and emerging with something both sensual and reflective.

Wild West is out now via Future Gods.

Apollo Ghosts – Spilling Yr Guts

Vancouver‘s Apollo Ghosts made a splash in 2010 with their Polaris-nominated record, Mount Benson, though seemingly disbanded in 2013 as lead Adrian Teacher moved on to found COOL TV and other projects. But stories of their demise turned out to be exaggerated as Apollo Ghosts returned in 2019 with Living Memory, and the comeback appears to be a lasting one as this month saw the release of brand new album Pink Tiger on You’ve Changed Records. Single ‘Spilling Yr Guts’ is just one of twenty-two bright and inventive tracks, but its fresh, buoyant rhythm serves as the perfect point of entry for those looking to be swept away.

Spilling your guts on the sidelines
Spilling your guts on the stage
When you’ve got fuck all inside you
You’ll finally have something to say

A Starving Viking – Leaves

The moniker of Connecticut-based songwriter Matt Jarrett, A Starving Viking is a folk project which primarily relies on an intimately simple balance of guitar and vocals. His debut record Semblance was released in 2019 via Resonating Wood Recordings, though in anticipation of a new EP the label has released an amended version, now titled reSemblance. Single ‘Leaves’ is a great introduction to A Starving Viking‘s patient and kind-hearted sound, the melancholy of its murmured style counterbalanced by an ever-present compassion.

Fake Fruit – No Mutuas

Just over a year ago, Oakland, California indie rock band Fake Fruit released a self-titled album on Rocks In Your Head Records. Lead by guitarist/vocalist Hannah D’Amato, the band draw on classic post-punk to create something fresh and often acerbic, drawing on the frustration and general weirdness of 21st century living. A standout was single ‘No Mutuals’, a song that rallies against empty, point-scoring social interactions (what they call “Cool Guy Syndrome”) and now Fake Fruit have returned with a reworking of the track that adds an extra layer of attitude and translates the lyrics into Spanish. “This recording feels true to the original, but it’s sporting new haircut energy, an extra spring in its step and feels more aligned with how it sounds when played live,” D’Amato explains. “Plus it just feels good to scream in Spanish.” Check it out below:

Greet Death – Panic Song

Following on from 2019’s majestic New Hell, Flint’s Greet Death have spent the past few months unveiling a series of new singles. The subdued ‘I Hate Everything’ drew the listener into reserved yet resentful frame of mind, the familiar Greet Death weight hovering just out of view. ‘You Love is Alcohol’ introduced a woozy country vibe, ‘Punishment Existence’ simmered with latent intensity too. So the manner in which ‘Panic Song’ bathes the listener in its gauzy textures and insistent energy feels something like the deferred release promised on the previous tracks. Even if the release is excessive and all-consuming with its adrenaline-filled shakes.

Got onto something new
To repossess your blues
Another panic song
And sirens all night long

Jack Keyes – Gray Balloons

Last year we wrote about Kentucky artist Jack Keyes and his upcoming record, Dissolving in Dusk. Single ‘Nowhere’ introduced a sound “wrapped in an easy-going sincerity that holds both melancholy and fondness,” and latest track ‘Gray Balloons’ is similarly conflicted. Again based around the simplicity of acoustic guitar, the single confronts a difficult situation with tender charm. “This song was written after my girlfriend had her visa revoked,” Keyes explains. “She had to very suddenly leave our town in Kentucky to go back to her family nearly 10,000 miles away. In our last days together, I wanted to be happy and celebrate the good times, while also mourning a future loss.”

Dissolving in Dusk will be released later this year.

Kelly Hoppenjans – Stain

We’ve previously described the work of Nashville singer-songwriter Kelly Hoppenjans as “Channeling the spirit of riot grrrl while maintaining a folk sensibility,” with debut OK, I Feel Better representing “music of empowerment, facing up to expectations and staring them down.” Taken from new EP, Can’t Get the Dark Out, latest single ‘Stain’ is a direct follow-up to a single from that record, a kind of antidote to the toxic headspace ‘Band-Aid Girl’ asked Hoppenjans to re-enter every time she played it. As she puts it: “I decided to write a song, inspired by the same relationship, that I could perform after ‘Band-Aid Girl’ to lift me out of that funk.”

But I didn’t think to say that to you in the moment
I guess I only come up with the good stuff once you walk away
My mistake

I think it’s your fault

Check out the video directed by Crystal Bowersox below:

Can’t Get the Dark Out will be released on the 22nd May and you can get it from Bandcamp.

Kraków Loves Adana – Open The Door

Last year Hamburg‘s dream pop duo Kraków Loves Adana released Follow the Voice, a record which “in which the boundaries between physical reality, virtual reality and dreams began to merge and blur.” However the sometimes there is more to a song than the single take which makes it to the record, and new EP Swim in the Blue reimagines three tracks to allow them to exist in a different form. “I wanted to revisit these three pieces from a different perspective,” Deniz Çiçek explains, “never imagining that the songs would develop a whole new life of their own as a result.” A reworking of ‘Dream House’, ‘Open The Door’ is a perfect example of how these different spins manifest, with the sparkling synths toned down in favour of a fuller bodied sound.

Swim in the Blue is out now and you can get it from the Kraków Loves Adana Bandcamp page.

Laura Loriga – Passes the Flame

Born in Bologna and now based in Brooklyn, songwriter and pianist Laura Loriga has spent the last ten years honing her craft between Italy and the US, a geographic diversity which mimics the layered and shifting style of her work. Recording as both Mimes of Wine and now under her own name, Loriga has slowly veered away from an abstract classical sound toward something more immediate and intuitive, a move facilitated by a switch from acoustic piano to organ. Latest album Vever, out via ears&eyes Records, utilises this along with a variety of acoustic and electric elements, with single ‘Passes the Flame’ highlighting the shadowy, nuanced sound.

Max García Conover – Mud

Back in 2018, Max García Conover released Among Horses III, a superb collaboration with Haley Heynderickx on Barcelona label Son Canciones. Following on from a series of singles, this spring sees return Conover return with Deer, a brand new album on the same label which again leans into collaborative work. Take lead single ‘Mud’, written and recorded with Massachusetts folk trio The Ballroom Thieves. A song every bit as sincere and searching as anything in Conover catalogue, looking for substance in a strange world. “I don’t need to find the centre, I just need another song,” he sings. “So what if I write it wrong?”

Proper. – The Great American Novel

“This record is a concept album that’s meant to read like a book,” explains Proper. vocalist Erik Garlington of new record The Great American Novel. “Every song is a chapter following the protagonist through their 20s. Imagine a queer, Black Holden Caufield-type coming up in the 2010s.” Produced by Bartees Strange and released via Father/Daughter (US) and Big Scary Monsters (UK), the record is a searing critique of a society dedicated to and built upon denying Black genius. One which refuses to extend a hand to those who uphold this system of violence, deciding that for once it must be them who do the work to meet the album on its own terms.

The Great American Novel is out now via Father/Daughter (US) and Big Scary Monsters (UK).

Slow Down Molasses – Street Haunting (Vator Sessions)

Back in 2021 Saskatoon‘s Slow Down Molasses released their latest record, Minor Deaths. What we called ” a committed decision to embrace the energies of the contemporary moment in all of their frustrations, aggressions, vulnerabilities and dread.” Ahead of a UK tour this May, the band have unveiled a live version of single ‘Street Haunting‘ recorded with Vator Sessions. A take which encapsulates the bristling intensity of a SDM live show.

Minor Deaths is available from the Slow Down Molasses Bandcamp page, and you can find the full performance on the Vator Sessions Youtube page. Details of the tour are available here.

Uma Bloo – Strange Actress

The recording project of Molly Madden, Uma Bloo came into being when Madden left behind a strict conservative background and headed to Chicago. Among other artforms, songwriting soon became a way to express the dimensions of her personality that had otherwise been repressed. “Once I accepted the fact that I wanted to create my own music, these songs started pouring out of me in an effort to unpack the life I had and what I thought I wanted to build,” Madden explains. “In a lot of ways this album has been in process since I was eight years old without me fully knowing it.” Latest single ‘Strange Actress’ carries all the ferocity and feeling you might expect from such a process, holding desire, desperation and defiance in its hands and refusing to apologise for any contradiction.

You think I’m very strange
But the way I live makes sense to me
I think I’ll stay the same

The post Weekly Listening: March 2022 #4 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Keyes immediately set to work on new music, finding a newfound willingness to push the boundaries of his style. “I found myself feeling more open to being vulnerable and experimenting both sonically and lyrically,” Keyes says. “It feels freeing to present something authentic because I know the album represents who I am at this point in time.”

A new album, Dissolving in Dusk, rose from the period, and today we’re delighted to share the lead single, ‘Nowhere’. Recorded with Paul Kintzing (of German Error Message) in Nashville, the track is the perfect introduction to Keyes’s blend of intimate and newly experimental styles. Coaxed into life with finger-picked guitar and gentle percussive beat, the sound starts out soft and pensive, wrapped in an easy-going sincerity that holds both melancholy and fondness. But as it develops, other elements emerge, the vocals lifted upon layers of organ as the drums kick into higher rhythm, growing in conviction to match the rising mood in a manner that feels instinctive and free-flowing.

This sense of intuitive rhythm is baked into the song, extending right back to its creation. “I wrote the lyrics to ‘Nowhere’ while going on an evening walk by myself at Shelby Park in Nashville,” Keyes says. “When I came into the studio the next day, the percussion and melody flowed super organically, and we finished the song over the course of the afternoon.” For those familiar with his work, Kintzing’s influence is apparent, the way the parts of the track coalesce, the slow-dawning tenderness.

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