A singer and songwriter from Sydney, Australia who counts
Joni Mitchell
and
Neil Young
among her formative influences,
Indigo Sparke
came to the attention of acclaimed folk-rock group
Big Thief
following the release of her debut EP in 2016. She soon took her tender, acoustic indie folk songs on tour in support of the band and recorded
echo
, her full-length debut, in 2019, with
's
Adrianne Lenker
and their longtime producer,
Andrew Sarlo
, among its production team. Bandmembers also contributed performances to the album's spare arrangements. While reminiscent of the brittleness of
Lenker
's solo material, the songs are all
Sparke
, whose ethereal, world-weary vocals and intimate lyrics define the set. It opens with the sighing "Colourblind," whose strummed guitar and light drums set a gentle backdrop for a searching lead guitar line that echoes the song's sinuous rumination and lines like, "Been waking with bad dreams/Been walking with shaky knees/And I feel colourblind when I'm with you/There is no remedy for my shade of blue." Though the record never breaks free from its plaintive state, "Bad Dreams" carries a soft-spoken sense of urgency a third of the way through the track list, and "Dog Bark Echo" offers a dramatic spoken-word interlude at the album's midpoint. It's followed by the relatively assertive "Golden Age," whose amplification, occasional spectral effects, and direct lyrics provide a point of tension before a despairing third act that ends with "Everything Everything" and the resigned if graceful conclusion that "Everything is dying...Everyone is dying/Everything is simple." In the process of arriving there,
touches on poetic remembrances of people, places, and joys as well as the more preoccupying struggles, making for a mature and poignant introduction. ~ Marcy Donelson