Spectacular of Passages

There is certainly nothing wrong with chanteuses – we are quite lucky to now have a fair few in our aural midst as some of the young’uns seem to take off – but neu-folk composer Samara Lubelski is absolutely not a chanteuse by nature. In truth to her pedigree in Metabolismus, Tower Recordings, Hall of Fame, the Sonora Pine, Pacer, Matt Valentine et al., she’s a master of atmospheric textures at both juggernaut tempi and languorous sonic canvasses, her part as one of whole. Samara, with dew-flecked voice and slippery strung chords, makes that languor a tour of both honeyed breakfast plate and the midday crackle of dried grass. Third as bandleader, ten new classics of deliciously effusive songcraft, Passages joins Lubelski with The Clean’s Hamish Kilgour and otherworldly luminaries Matt Heyner (NNCK), Christian Frederickson (Rachel’s), and Cynthia Nelson.