Gripping across both hazy rock introspection and soaring swells of emotion, Faultlines is the consuming new album from Pisgah. The project of Brittney Jenkins caught our ears a couple months ago with the magnetic album cut “Bend to Break,” and the rest of Faultlines certainly succeeds with a similar range of exceptional songwriting. A knack for both climactic structural unveilings and affecting lyricism is present from Jenkins, who grew up in the American South and has lived in Greater London since 2015.
Amongst the album’s many highlights, “Favor” is particularly exemplary of Jenkins’ riveting songwriting. Jangly guitars and ghostly vocal undercurrents complement a climactic lead. “You were never mine to wager,” Jenkins’ vocals let out into a glistening array of synths and steady guitar twangs; the dreamy soundscape finds comforting aptness with retrospective lyrical accounts of a relationship dissolving. “I was grappling with the breakdown of a relationship with someone close to me in the middle of the first Covid lockdown in the UK, and I remember the line ‘falling out of favor’ popping into my head randomly one morning,” Jenkins said of the track, in an interview with Punk Head. It’s one of many affecting, replay-inducing successes on Faultlines.
An atmospheric gem, “Splintering” ventures from a chilly, ambient glimmering and cinematic-forward rhythmic pulses — ideal complements to the moody guitar twangs and contemplative vocal feeling. “I made myself smaller for your love,” Jenkins sings, continuing to impress with descriptions of a relationship in disarray, with a push-and-pull for personal autonomy; the “here I go” refrain is haunting and visceral in its delivery. “Out of the Gate” also captivates. “Everybody wants a garden of their own, but they never want the weeds,” the poetic lyricism exudes, analyzing desire and motivation within a glistening array of lush guitar constructions, reminding fondly of Japanese Breakfast. Faultlines is a defining, replay-tempting success of a full-length from Pisgah.
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“Out of the Gate” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
