Moody and magnificent debut from major new songwriter.
A new name to the Americana UK shores, Maisy Owen is a Nashville native now residing in L.A. This is her first full-length offering, although at eight songs, it is a fairly brief introduction. Saying that, it is far better to leave a listener wanting more, and Dark on a Sunny Day is a rather wonderful thing of subtle beauty. This is music that invites immersion and is likely to gain wholehearted fans.
Lead single, My Youth Is All For You, is a perfect opening track. Delicate finger-picked folk guitar and Owen’s lilting, crooning, whispering vocal immediately invite you into her world. “I cannot bear the weight of your affection / I cannot walk with all these shadows behind me”. It is a fragile thing, and is accompanied by a suitably moody video. The scene is set for a slightly out-of-time listening experience.
Second track Letters takes us into even folkier territory, the mystical old folk that might have been heard on Harry Smith’s legendary anthology, nothing very sweet or saccharine here. “Your chaos is insatiable / and it will never end”. The insistent minor key guitar and the haunted harmonies build into something dark indeed.
The rushing rhythm of the title track brings a different emotion, a more anxious experience, an urging to move. There are again hints of something much darker, too. “I go dark, but he stays the same / Are you going to force yourself to hit me harder? / I don’t want it, this ache of mine / I don’t want it all the time”.
Still catching our breath, Owen then starts the bucolic The Rest Of Me, with perhaps the sweetest melody on the record. If some have compared her to Vashti Bunyan, this song is probably the start of that. By this point, we’re starting to realise that even Owen’s sweetest moments have something lurking: “The beast inside my bones / burning a hole in me / Pretty things, why don’t you talk no more?”
Various artists have been put forward as potential influences; alongside Ms Bunyan, there’s Nick Drake, Sharon van Etten, and even the moodier moments of First Aid Kit. But here’s the thing, Owen already stands alone and apart. We’ve all heard sweet voices before, and sparse folk-gothic arrangements, and ethereal production, but she has brought her own mark, her own stamp, and her own distinctive talent. Dark on a Sunny Day is a marvellous taster, with songs that could surely be soundtracking major league TV series or indie films. A new talent is in the field: long may she run.
