Echo (studio album) by Indigo Sparke

From Mercury 03/02/2021 20:38

(Beautiful album, with some angelic and exquisite vocal performances from Indigo and some really straight forward and elegant folk arrangements given just enough production touches to make the songs float dreamily in your mind as you listen. I really like this.)

This lil debut album by Indigo Sparke is a good un and recommended for those who like this brand of delicate, acoustic, introspective singer/songwriter release. The melodies are, at times, quite soft and float away into strange and dreamy side alleys and those moments of floating freedom are some of the most memorable on this album. The songs that are more constrained and direct are also quite beautifully sung and played with enough small detail packed in to keep 'em engaging and interesting even if very familiar to anyone who has listened to Dylan or Mitchell or hundreds of other great folk songwriters who sing.

But there is a special something about the sounds here that slightly separate it from the legion of similar releases in recent years. I can't quite put my finger on it... thinking of how to express it, one sec... okay well I suppose there is a certain comfortable intimacy to the album. Sparke's vocals are just beautiful, really quite charming and lovely. The arrangements are generally quite direct and beautiful, never wildly aberrant, yet there is generaly something intense and engaging about them. The strange and intoxicating mixture of these elements are on excellent display in the song "Bad Dreams". With its angelic vocals soaring and completely slaying the melody so you can't take your attention off of them, there is this repetitive fingerpicked pattern on the guitar, and a rich and reverby swirl that surrounds you as you are taken along on this amazing journey during the song. Its stunning.

And there are other, similarly hypnotic and gorgeous moments and songs on this album. It just feels like a beautiful, intimate world. Indigo lyrically, based off what I heard or paid attention to, is quite excellent. And with the exquisite vocals and simple yet engaging arrangements and with the rich and super atmospheric production and with the little instrumental touches that are present in this beauty, by the end of the album I was just really into it! And I pushed play again and then again. I just love this album and its a very very exciting debut that I think bodes will for Sparke going forward.