Ears Wide Open: Izzy Outerspace

Kevin Bronson on July 28th, 2023

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Izzy Outerspace makes dream-pop befitting her artist moniker — music to soundtrack a sky full of stars and mind full of reveries.

It’s the project of songwriter Isabelle Baumgartner, a native of Switzerland who first came to the U.S. to pursue a career in film and has now turned her creative eye toward music after teaching herself to play guitar. The first Izzy Outerspace album, “Amazon,” arrived in late 2020, and she followed last year with “Caught,” highlighted by the single “Warm Summer.”

Her languorous vocals spinning tales of emotional travails, Izzy Outerspace has issued two singles since, both made in collaboration with producer Christian Paul Philippi (Coma Girls).

“Arroyo Dream,” released this month, came out of a writing workshop she attended last year with Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold. “[It’s] a song that’s meant to encourage and lift you up whenever you’ve lost all faith,” the songwriter says. “It’s a call to trust your own path and timing. Perfect for a late-night drive, on a warm summer day.”

That tune followed the December release of “Blinded,” a echo-laden, heavy-hearted rumination about a love gone by. “Remembering the sweet memories you made with them,” she says, “knowing that they won’t return or you won’t return.”

||| Stream: “Arroyo Dream” and “Blinded”