Aldous Harding is one of those songwriters who seem to pluck melodies from the Platonic heavens. Or maybe not Platonic–there’s something too odd and unexpected about Harding’s tunes for Plato–but there’s a perfection there. As a singer, Harding is a chameleon. In songs like “Fever” she sings with the self-assured voice of someone like Cate LeBon, while on “Warm Chris” she sounds like a child singing a lullaby. Comparisons to Adrienne Lenker of Big Thief aren’t off base, but Harding is a more interesting vocalist, I think. This is an excellent album, first song to last, and will be one of the year’s standouts.
I had the good fortune to see her in concert last week and though her stage presence is unusual, to say the least, she was absolutely spellbinding.