Ears Wide Open: Itasca

Michelle Shiers on January 16th, 2015

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Under the moniker Itasca, lo-fi folkie Kayla Cohen released another full-length in October titled “Unmoored By The Wind.” In keeping with her motif of intimacy and solitude, the New York-bred singer-songwriter records at her current home in Los Angeles. She recently supported fellow folk songwriter Ben Watt, where she shared her characteristic dreaminess. Her newest album shows off more of the same â€” songs full of space and echoing atmosphere but still maintaining the feeling that the listener is sitting privately next to her. ”Unmoored By The Wind” opens with an instrumental track and the record that follows is a mixture of songs that flow seamlessly. Throughout, there’s a purity and fragility in her voice-and-guitar meditations, but the occasional flute and layered harmonies give the songs a depth that reaches beyond the walls of whatever small room we imagine her in. The perfectly titled album exudes a feeling that Cohen is exploring the idea of being delicately carried away. On one of her more haunting songs, “Nature’s Gift,” Cohen sings, “Now I’m sitting here thinking about how might nature help me out,” suggesting that she might get a lot of her inspiration from the simplest of moments. Throughout the record, Cohen’s delicate finger-picking and earnest harmonies are reminiscent of melancholy ’70s folk. It closes with “Glass,” in which she confesses to “trying to bring a smile to your face, come on now.” Simple.

||| Stream: “Nature’s Gift” and “Dawn”