Ashley Shadow

Understatedly addictive, slow-burning downer pop from Vancouver. There's a warm, slightly serrated feel to the whole record—acoustic guitars, blankets of synth, occasional metallic guitar low-end, subtle percussion if any. Ashley Shadow's gracefully emotive singing sounds a lot like that of Amber Webber from Black Mountain and Lightning Dust, which makes 100% sense because she turns out to be Ashley Webber, Amber's twin sister. She writes from a place of calm defiance, and her lyrics are direct and plainspoken but eloquent. This is a really special, moving record (and hopefully cuts across a wide range of DJ tastes). Favorites: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. Borderline FCC on 1.

1. (3:48)—BORDERLINE FCC (“p*****g your eyes into a blind mind”). Slow, chilling, cutting, dramatic, synth-heavy waltz.
2. *(3:19)—Medium-slow. Starts as downbeat singer-songwriter pop, turns into heavy, crunching western-gothic.
3. *(3:15)—Mid-tempo, lush, with a soft and driving drum machine beat overlaid with real drums. Totally beautiful and catchy.
4. *(3:32)—Slow, humid, minimal alt-country. “You could spend your whole life pretending / and never looking back to what went wrong.”
5. *(3:35)—Slow. Starts as an alt-country waltz and sinks into a wall of distortion and synth organ.
6. (3:43)—Mid-tempo, cruising drum beat. Dreamy, more overtly poppy.
7. *(3:23)—Slow, gorgeous washes of distorted guitar and organ.
8. (3:54)—Languid slowcore. Thick ambiance and very woozy, spacey synths.
9. (2:39)—Mid-tempo, loping, minimal, spooky.