Daiana Feuer on July 13th, 2016

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In the past, Itasca releases were all just Kayla Cohen in her pastoral fantasies accompanied by guitar. On her new album, “Open To Chance,” Cohen uses a full band for the first time, which consists of Dave McPeters, Coleman Guyon, Kacey Johansing, and Julia Nowak. The pedal steel adds a sweet country effect to the pretty, image-driven lyricism delivered by her low, warm voice. If she was strolling through the woods followed by a trail of mice before, now she is on a porch in a cozy mountain cabin, surrounded by all the animals and magical creatures, including some fine lover, that she sings about. Or if she’s sitting in her Los Angeles home, with traffic, smog, and strange people passing by her window, then the fantastical offers poetic escape. “Open To Chance” comes out Sept. 30 through Paradise Of Bachelors. The first single, “Buddy” is a love song, conjuring a romantic stroll on a mountain with a lover, that dips into an imagined future where they live there, get married, spend their days picking berries, and leave the city far behind.

||| Stream: “Buddy”

||| Live: Itasca plays Aug. 5 at the Lost Knight.