Shannon Wright's debut album,
Flightsafety, positioned her as a sensitive, talented purveyor of melancholy,
Elliott Smith-styled indie folk. The quiet intensity underpinning
Flightsafety bubbles to the surface on its follow-up,
Maps of Tacit, a bold and startling leap into uncharted territory. Although the album begins in a relatively similar style, by the halfway point it's apparent that
Wright is drawing just as much on the dissonant art-song of theatrical composer
Kurt Weill and the minimalist instrumentation of latter-day
Tom Waits (sans junkyard percussion); the more carnival-esque work of
Lisa Germano is perhaps the best comparison, and the wilder moments might even recall German art rock chanteuse
Dagmar Krause for some. The differences are apparent on the re-recording of
Flightsafety's "Heavy Crown," now overtly rather than vaguely unsettling; where the original relied on its creeping chordal lines for impact, here
Wright wails the chorus with a newfound power, climaxing in an apocalyptic scream that provides one of the record's most intense moments. Yet that shouldn't be taken to mean that
Wright has thrown off all restraint or nuance; quite the contrary, she simply sounds more confident, her live performances having informed the sharper emotional contrasts in her music. The intensity of
Maps of Tacit feels cathartic rather than tortured, and it makes
Wright's experiments with sonic texture all the more exciting and fresh. That's especially true of the pieces utilizing harmonium or Wurlitzer organ; their frequently aggressive dissonance hangs in the air behind
Wright with an eerie, almost spectral quality. If the album has a flaw, it's that the second half's shorter, sometimes instrumental pieces could perhaps have been fleshed out into something more complete-sounding; still, they at least fit the atmosphere well. Overall,
Maps of Tacit finds
Wright growing more adventurous both as a composer and performer; it's a dark and challenging work, yet it isn't off-putting or overly harrowing, and its bracing experimentalism and originality suggest even greater things to come. ~ Steve Huey