Land of No Junction

Though it’s coloured by shades of autumnal ’60s psychedelia, Irish songwriter Aoife Nessa Frances’ 2020 debut album has a dark undertow pulling at it, a feeling of amorphous uncertainty where the ground underneath might unexpectedly shift or disappear completely. Reminiscent of Nico and Cate Le Bon, Frances’s distinct vocal acts as an anchor of sorts, but songs such as the title track’s swaying funeral march and “Here In The Dark”’s Broadcast-esque psych pop blow and swell around her like a sea mist, threatening to take her, and us, away with it. Unsettling at times, but never less than enchanting.