Ears

From the minute the singer-songwriter discovered analogue synthesisers thanks to a neighbour on Orcas Island on the US Pacific Northwest coast, she was a natural with them. Her first three synth albums all conjure a super distinctive sonic and compositional voice from the ripples and gurgles of the Buchla Easel and other esoteric synths and showed growing confidence — but this, her fourth, was an explosive leap forward. Singing in alien voices, melodies bursting out in modes from all continents and none, those notoriously difficult to control synth textures all completely in service to her writing yet somehow free at the same time. This was the arrival of a truly unique talent and a left field superstar.