“There is nothing remarkable about my life that is necessary to know in order to appreciate the songs,” says Matthew Davidson of Twain. He describes the project as “a modern folk-opera of indefinite length consisting of songs and images from my life, a self-caricature of the musician and writer Matthew Davidson.”
Twain made his label debut with Rare Feeling in 2017. The album was aptly hailed by NPR as “at once human and otherworldly,” by Consequence of Sound as “devastating, delicate, meditative,” and by Uproxx as “cosmic folk, bright and sparkling, but with all the caterwauling and rough bits that the most stoic traditionalist might desire.”
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Everything clicks on Safe to Run, the fourth album from singer, songwriter and perpetual searcher Esther Rose. It’s the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry, and presents Rose’s always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. As with previous work, her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she sharpens the pop elements and attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey.
After spending her formative years in Michigan, Rose relocated to New Orleans and got her start in music there while awash in the unparalleled energy of the city’s scene. Over the course of her first three records, an infatuation with traditional country gradually evolved into a more distinctive style and increasingly personal material.
