Land Of No Junction is the type of album to surrender yourself to. Populated by dreamscape songs that wash over the listener with hypnotic captivation, Aoife Nessa Frances’ debut offering draws you into a world of hazy indie, psychedelic diversions and enchanting songwriting.
From the clicking beat that opens ‘Geranium’ to the weaving guitar line that lies beneath Aoife Nessa Frances mesmerizing vocal, the world of Land Of No Junction is set. Taking us by the hand, the music of Frances’ debut moves at a slow-burn that lets us take-in all the nuances and flow of the record as we traverse a production is subtly building more and more layers.
And, with Aoife Nessa Frances as our guide we travel through the hazy dreamlike soundscapes of Land Of No Junction. While the songwriter weaves the lush musicality of ‘Blow Up’, the fuzzy backdrop of ‘Less Is More’ and vivid indie-pop inflections of ‘Libra’ around us, Frances’ voice stands as an hushed but immovable constant in a landscape that is ever-evolving making for an album that grow outward sonically but still maintains a strong central narrative within the songwriting.
Nowhere is the sprawling multi-layered grandeur Land Of No Junction better seen than in ‘Here in the Dark’. A patient song, the slow pulsing rhythm, intricate atmospherics and woven strong lines that comprise the song’s backdrop merge with Frances’ vocal that dominates the foreground, as the song casts enchanting spell via the lyrically abstracted imagery that forms the core of the album as a whole.
A journey worth giving yourself over to, Land Of No Junction plays like a strange dream populated by its own logic and meaning. And just like a strange dream you feel almost compelled to tell people about it, just to relive it all over again and have other experience what you did. A stunning work of intricate texture.
