Lou Turner :: Songs For John Venn

Texas-born / Nashville-based singer-songwriter Lou Turner has crafted some kind of low-key masterpiece with Songs For John Venn, released a couple months back by the Spinster Sounds label. The album’s sonic picture is made up of Astral Weeks-y flute flutters, Hurley-worthy armchair boogies, garage-y rambles, and beyond. But however eclectic it gets, the album is held together firmly by Turner’s singular lyrics and perfectly breezy vocals. She can make even the most tongue-twisted of lines sound as natural as a conversation with friends, blending wry humor with piercing observations, stony wonderings with crystal clear vision. These tunes follow their own weird inner logic but remain altogether accessible for the casual listener—a neat trick, indeed. Conjuring up circles within circles and wheels within wheels, Songs For John Venn feels both mystical and earthy, both feet on the ground with its head in the clouds. A good way to be. words/t wilcox

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