A worthy air to Sandy Denny, Vashti Bunyan, Joan Baez, Linda Thompson, Nick Drake and, more suitably, Gillian Welch, the American Joan Shelley carries on their torch. The folk singer from Louisville who had Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy produce her eponymous 2017 debut album continues her scenic journey with a unique and moving grace. The melodies and rhythms of songs on Like the River Loves the Sea contain fragments of the multiple musical traditions that make up the sonority of her native Kentucky: Irish, British, African to only mention a few. For Shelley, “the most beautiful music is that which converses with the all-seeing divine, the trees and ancient beings that are witnesses to the entirety of human history. These songs represent part of this conversation.” And this divinity is indeed present on titles such as When What It Is where a tranquil piano envelops a guitar and pure vocals; the result is dumbfounding… Much like her predecessors, Joan Shelley is never superfluous and delivers an incandescent folk artistry. Calm moments and silences allow her to create an atmosphere of beauty and purity. Less is more, more than ever… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz