Head of Roses

this is peak Jenn. all the grace and beauty is here, with those magnificent heart-felt vocals. she pours herself unreservedly into every note of every song. the end result is a record on a par with Angel Olsen's All Mirrors and Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood. she is such an enormous talent and I hope fervently that this finally is the work that will propel her to the proper level of respect.

it is near perfect and the only drawback is some gratuitous moments of electronic cuteness on the part of co-producer Nick Sanborn, who never met a special effect he doesn't like. (see all the Sylvan Esso songs that are drenched in them.) probably, the cut and paste production method they followed saved the record from even more of this, so that turned out to be a positive.

every song is wonderful, and you can't pick favorites here, but "Price of Blue" is master-class songwriting and has some of the most beautiful transitions you will ever hear. that song is not simply one of the best of the year, it may be the best song she has written in her career to date, or certainly the best vocal performance. ASMR moments abound, especially on "One More Hour", which is spectacular. taken as a whole, the album is altogether a triumph and one can only hope that others have the heart to acknowledge it as such.