Wander Feeler
Loantaka, 2020
8/10
The solo project of Justine Brown, who cut her teeth playing drums and singing with her sister, Chelsea, in Summer Twins, as Easy Love the songstress was inspired by watching Melle from Mozes And The Firstborn perform guitar acrobatics.
After the guitar driven melodica and calculated musicianship of the instrumental “Intro”, “Alright” flows with a pretty, ‘90s alt-rock quality as a jangly quality enters the dreamy setting that settles in well from the get-go.
Brown does inject brief instrumentals into the listen, including “Golden Hours”, which moves precisely with a hypnotic quality to the shimmering guitar, while the playful “Blue Eyes” makes great use of an acoustic guitar in the vivid, universally embraceable atmosphere. “Wander Feeler”, one of the fuller and most noteworthy tracks, then resides closer to indie-folk with soaring backing vocals
The record ends strong, with the hazy strumming of the introspective “I Want It All”, and “Leave Me” exits the listen with a bare and sincere delivery about heartbreak as Brown lays it all on the line with eloquent forthrightness.
This is the sophomore album from the California native, and her keen sense of rock, pop, and folk sensibilities combined with her extremely proficient guitar playing, layered vocals and occasional nods to ‘60s girl groups help make it an exceptional and accomplished effort.
Travels well with: Rogue Wave- Nightingale Floors; Mozes And The Firstborn- Dadcore