The Greatest Part

Nashville-based indie singer/songwriter established her contemplative, folk-inflected style as well as a shimmery, reverb-softened production veneer to match her voice on 2017's , her full-length debut. Three years later, pretty seamlessly shifts the balance away from more folk-leaning elements toward keyboards and catchier choruses without losing the warm, dreamy quality of her sound. The album was recorded with drummer . Opening track "Hunter" introduces components like airy string voices, keyboard, and funky synth bass alongside guitar, skittering drums, and 's gentle vocal delivery, which issues lines about getting threatening letters in the mail. Trauma inspirations resurface on "First Time," which opens with the words "I remember the first time my dad didn't hug me back," a reference to coming out as queer to her family. While the unsettled nature of the lyrics continues on songs with titles like "Bad Feeling" and "I'm Sorry," she's more defiant on "Tear Us Apart," a track that layers acoustic and electric guitars and atmospheric keys under pleas for solidarity. That song temporarily unravels into improvised noise, as does the head-bobbing "Stay with Me," whose sophisticated textures venture into distortion. It's structured choruses with repeated lyrics bordering on earworms ("Are you a lonely boy?") that set the course here, however. Having entered recording sessions with the goal of making "sad pop music," effectively accomplishes that aim on an album that keeps its melodies, rhythms, and the palette bright and welcoming. ~ Marcy Donelson