Sarah Bethe Nelson
TANGLED
(Self Released)
TANGLED
 One of the the best thing you can say about an artist is that their music makes you feel a way you want to feel. Sarah's songwriting isn't all sunshine smiles and children playing tag out on the front lawn, but it will wrap itself around you like a warm fuzzy sweater on a chilly winter morning when you need it most. Her soft vocals, catchy guitar melodies, and intimate lyrics are reminiscent of a scaled down Innocence Mission or Mazzy Star, and will inevitably end up being hummed in the shower for days, whether you want to or not.

  There's an air of timelessness that permeates this entire album, sort of like sitting on your grandparent's front porch and flipping through a big box of old familiar photographs. Maybe it's because we get the feeling that most of these songs could have been written at any point over the last 70 years, without detracting from their meaning. You won't find a single lackluster track anywhere on this CD. Songs like "I'm Alone" and "We Take It as It Comes, Boys" manage to be deliciously melancholy without losing any of their sweetness, while the darker "Tangled" and "Run Around Town" have an intense gravity all to themselves that can't help but remind you of your own inescapable spiral orbits through life.

These are songs about hard luck, everyday woes, and empty beds.

That said, Tangled is a touching album, and definitely one I'd recommend for those unexpected cold snaps when you need a little bit of extra warmth to help make it through until the next thaw.