After a brazen foray of experimentation with Petal Black Rock, Willow bridges the gap between those Avant-Garde impulses and her prior personal peak Empathogen. The brief structures and short lived chemistries mostly felt unfinished, yet still charmed curious spells. The Thread unravels those intuitions, returning to conventional forms.
Finding itself in a stride of maturity, this newest chapter feels familiar and comforting, almost expectant at times, yet still excitable. Its magnetism often emerges from swells of entanglement. Momentum builds, her voices melt magic as layers of swooning vocal tones layer up, meeting the music's moment. This motif is becoming a signature.
Accompanied by warm soothing basslines, roomy acoustic guitar plucking, bright jazzy pianos and consistent percussive intelligence, a cohesive unity dazzles in its best strides. Whatever intensity a song strikes upon, all elements align to deliver Willow's voice through a collective guidance. It makes for such easy listening.
Although The Thread's creative peaks lean upon those unusual, experimental chemistries, this matured progressive refinement structures the music with an inviting, accessible tone, making the experience a simple pleasure with depth throughout. Perhaps that's its key takeaway, the brilliant songcraft housing her lyrical musings.
Once again, words fly over this humble listeners head. Despite that, I picked up a reflective nature towards relationships that sounded both therapeutic in expression and matured with age. Highlights included the title track, single song and lead out starting with Crush On Eternity. I especially enjoyed The Present Moment, something about the arrival of that song always signaled a timely feeling of finality to me.
Rating: 8/10