Maisy Owen is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in that musical hub of Nashville, TN. After debuting with a 7-inch last October, she is releasing her debut long-playing record on classic black vinyl on May 1 through Tompkins Square. Dark on a Sunny Day is an assured set that excels through nimble fingerpicking, sturdy string bowing, and boldness of voice. The connection of folk music’s rich, long tradition is readily apparent.
As Dark on a Sunny Day unfolds, the songs are engaging and fresh while avoiding the tentative. Opener “My Youth Is All for You” connects like a tune that’s been passed down from older generations while eschewing the dustiness of a relic. Unsurprisingly released as Owen’s first single on a vinyl 45 in stereo and mono versions (copies still available), the track establishes a timelessness the artist alternately embraces and keeps at arm’s length.
“Letters” sounds like it could’ve been dished out solo for a few coffeehouse diehards on a slow, chilly New England weeknight, but this guitar and vocal core (this idyllic folk vision) gets fortified with bass played by the album’s producer Robin Eaton and viola that’s credited to Owen. The title track is a sturdier strummer, with some gentle electric fuzz tones in the weave. The drumming of John Radford gives the song a folk-rock feel that’s appealingly casual.
“The Rest of Me” exudes the gorgeous fragility of the best of Brit-folk, wispy gal picking and intoning on a haybale division, but sorta miraculously without affectation. “On My Way Down” is a more forceful affair, Owen strumming alone in singer-songwriter mode save for Eaton’s bass.
But Owen never loses the air of a folky upstart. “I Can Be Just Like You” sounds like it could’ve been captured on the fly by a field recorder, with upright bass by Paul Defiglia more distant in the mix. There are bowed strings that give the track a late boost of vibrance, but the gist is a tender beauty that’s a common aspect of the folk style.
Dropping late in the sequence, “God Fear” gets closest to an indie strain of folk-rock without registering as divergent. Dark on a Sunny Day’s final cut, “It All Ends the Same,” is another pretty one and also a subtly woozy one. It’s really the only place on this set that suggests a congruence with psych-folk, and that’s a fine place for Maisy Owen to leave matters on a terrific first album.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
