NEW ALBUMS
AZURE RAY Remedy
Omaha folk-pop duo end long hiatus with further loveliness
FLOWER MOON
7/10
After a flurry of releases in the early 2000s, Omaha scene mainstays Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor have reconvened to harmonise with much less regularity – indeed, nine years have passed between 2012’s gentle-hearted As Above So Below mini-album and this successor. While the new songs’ whispery delicacy is not such a rare quality now that even Taylor Swift follows the same winsome path, Remedy still proves why Azure Ray remain special. Their fealty to Troubadour-era songcraft is one reason why, with the gorgeous “Phantom Lover” and “The Swan” evoking the most heartrending moments of Judee Sill and Carole King as heard through a dream-pop gauze.