Out of place and out of time, the voice of Haley Fohr is really something to behold amidst the eerieness and dread that her cocktail of 70's acid folk rock, experimental chamber music and an almost David Lynchian uncannyness in regards to "pop" sensibility evokes. Still, I find her sound is a hard one to define even when she's operating in an obvious mode (she's got a bit of country and Americana at her most acoustic). To these ears, I'd say she's a rather unique force in today's musical landscape, possessing an adventurous spirit that reminds you at times of Bjork...except songs like 'Black Fly' and the synth-percolating 'Paper Bag' are wayyyyyy better than anything the Icelandic queen of weird has done since the mid 90's, maybe ever.

Thematically, this album was born out of Haley's personal experience of a close shave with death (she collapsed in her home, convulsed, vomited, etc.) and, in some ways, this album intimately captures her fear of that moment in her life where it could have all ended. This makes the overall experience a beautiful (and at times disorienting) listen, but it also means you have to be in a particularly thoughtful frame of mind where it can sink into you, much like a classic Krautrock album or something along those lines.

All this being said, this album may be #16 on my list but it could have just as easily been #1. It has a profound, possibly sinister power that grew on me even as some of the other avant-garde stuff I jammed out to this year fell away. Go get this if you haven't already!