On her first solo album since 2004’s Everything Changed, Abra Moore continues to push the boundaries of the singer-songwriter genre. Producer Mitch Watkins, who also contributes guitar and keyboards, provides a sonic landscape that allows Moore’s voice to wash over the music.
“Into The Sunset”, the opening track, sets the tone as a soaring pop song, with Will Sexton providing an effective vocal counterpoint. “Sugarite” starts gently with Moore’s acoustic guitar but builds in intensity as Watkins adds layers of guitars to create a dizzying, whirlpool effect. The music dovetails nicely with Moore’s lyrics on the power and mystery of love.
The former Poi Dog Pondering vocalist switches gears for the jazzy regretfulness of “Sorry”, which features electric sitar fills by Watkins and trumpet by Ephraim Owens. “I Believe” is an upbeat take on the same subject, highlighted by Moore’s doubletracked vocals.
An expressive singer, Moore captures the mood of a song, be it the pensiveness of Tom Freund’s “No Turning Back” (the album’s sole cover) or the wistfulness in the ethereal “You”. Moore’s sole drawback is an occasional tendency to let a song go on too long (as on “Take Care Of Me” and “Birthday Song”), but it’s not a fatal flaw.