Emily Easterly- Seasons Never Change

With a degree in classical guitar and two albums under her belt, Emily Easterly brings a little under half an hour of largely percussion-less, alternately guitar and piano based indie rock/pop to the table on her third full-length outing, Seasons Never Change. Hints of PJ Harvey, Ani DiFranco, and vintage Liz Phair permeate Easterly's low-key blend of stripped down rock and balladic melancholia. Sonically reserved and low-key without sounding under-produced, it's a fairly impressive and emotive set.

The most striking moments here are arguably the beautifully heartwrenching piano ballad "free", the interweaving guitars and strong vocal melodies of the emotional "indifferent", and the moody, catchy guitar pop of "cobblestones". The distortion-underpinned opener "slow motion blink", the rhythmic rock of "old wooden houses", and the closing "miami", another particularly moving song about Easterly's time in the city, are also quite memorable.

While falling a bit on the short side, Emily Easterly's third full-length is a strong foray into mellow, low-key rock, alternating refreshing simplicity and subtle-but-relatively-more-complex compositions to great effect. With its varying guitar/piano instrumental base adding a bit of both sonic and emotional diversity to the proceedings, Seasons Never Change is a noteworthy and sometimes quite captivating album that's certainly worth a listen.