Self-rejuvenating North Carolina-dweller Sarah Louise delivers a second album for Thrill Jockey that shifts her story on from rustic earthiness to ambient-laced abstraction

Although living a relatively reclusive existence deep in the woods of Asheville, North Carolina, Sarah Louise Henson has not sat still in her creative progression since emerging with the sparse acoustic guitar explorations of 2015’s solo debut Field Guide.  Having subsequently delivered a set of 12-string essays for the twelfth instalment of VDSQ’s Acoustic Series in 2016 (an ongoing anthology that has previously seen fine company entries from Chris Brokaw, Thurston Moore and Michael Chapman) Henson moved into more vocal-led compositions for last year’s justifiably lauded Deeper Woods LP on Thrill Jockey. Extending upon work as one-half of House And Land (a duo shared with The Black Twig Pickers’ Sally Anne Morgan), her commanding tones and compositional reach coalesced through complex yet self-contained arrangements.  With the newly-released Nighttime Birds And Morning Stars (also on Thrill Jockey), things move along a stage further with imposing results.

Eschewing most of the Appalachian earthiness of Deeper Woods this follow-up, primarily fashioned with electric guitars and a home computer, is a more layered ambient affair with far fewer voice-led pieces.  Whilst this might disappoint those hoping for more Meg Baird-like acid-folk, it makes for a more immersive and intrepid trip.  The ruralist vibes are not entirely lost though.  The inaugurating “Daybreak” finds Henson’s tiered choral vocals sat atop ornithological field recordings and a glistening watery sonic bed; the eerie Josephine Foster-imbued ululations of “Late Night Healing Choir” invoke a haunted log cabin; and the dark wordless furrows of “Rime” are ploughed with densely meshed acoustic guitar figures. 

Elsewhere however, Henson spreads her craft across a wider range of vistas.  The gorgeous twinning and bobbing guitar lines and synthetic washes of “R Mountain” cross-reference the more urbanised sketching of Sarah Lipstate’s work as Noveller; the entangled twirls of “Swarming At The Threshold” exude languid yet restless free-jazz modulations; and the fidgety “Ancient Intelligence” unpeels as a deep-space raga with an oriental edge.  It doesn’t always hang together neatly and in places – particularly on the sometimes scrambled “Chitlin Flight” – the digital discombobulations can be distracting.  Henson does though save one of the best moments until last with the eight and a half minute title-track that moves elegantly through barely-there drones, ripples and murmurs that seem ripe to be picked-out by a discerning sci-fi-noir soundtrack commissioner’s ear.

In short, Nighttime Birds And Morning Stars is not an easy album but its stark probing scope reflects an artist stretching solitude into something indefinably and alluringly ambitious.

thrilljockey.com

Adrian
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