Album Review: Furling by Meg Baird

First solo album in seven years from ex-Espers vocalist sees greater depth and more expansive arrangements amid the astral and languorous textures San Francisco based singer Meg Baird first established herself musically back in the early to mid 2000s as part of psych-folk outfit Espers before going on to release solo albums that saw her move towards a more purely folk realm. Along the way she has explored louder and more psychedelic directions as part of Heron Oblivion (the outfit she formed with her partner Charles Saufley and Ethan Miller and Noel Von Harmonson of Comets On Fire), released albums with her sister Laura as The Baird Sisters while also working on one-off collaborations like 2018's Ghost Forests with harpist Mary Lattimore. She has also contributed vocals to albums by Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Will Oldham and Joan Shelley and toured with the likes of Angel Olson, Bill Callahan and Bert Jansch, all of which help further contextualise her music.

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A true main-stay of West Coast experimental folk music, Meg Baird has a slim but potent solo catalogue. A founder member of hugely influential freak folk outfit Espers , her last solo album 'Don't Weigh Down The Light' came in 2015, while a collaboration with noted harpist Mary Lattimore came in 2018. Well worth the wait, 'Furling' is the work of an artist who thoroughly rewards the listener's patience, an atmospheric yet impeccably detailed selection of haunting songcraft.

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Photo by Rachel Cassells Furling by Meg Baird Meg Baird displays a wonderfully unhurried demeanor on her new album, Furling. Right from the eerie, wordless cadence of dirge-like opener, "Ashes, Ashes," Baird doesn't so much sing in a conventional sense, but rather exhales shivering wisps of melody that catch in the updrafts of her songs' brisk, confident gestures. Though it's often hard to make out her lyrics, there's rarely any doubt about the feeling Baird is seeking to invoke at any given moment — you feel it in your gut, in the goosebumps that raise up along your arms.

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