New York-based songwriter, Lea Thomas, has been plying her trade for over a decade now. Perhaps wrongly lumped in with a new generation Greenwich Village-inspired coffeehouse strummers, while Thomas’ songs have often operated on a surface level, during her three-album reign there has been the odd spark that keeps you intrigued for more.
On her fourth long-player, Cosmos Forever, both in theme and sound, things have finally clicked on a broader scale for Thomas. Shining a light into new corners, the results are as grand and expansive as ever.
From the gentle echoes of opener, The Gift, Thomas showcases new dimensions and intimacy. A confidence and atmosphere not previously heard, and while The Gift is something akin to a spectre feeling its way through a hazy reverb of guitars, that mist drifts into We Must be In Love.
Slowcore designed for campfires that warm the heart, We Must Be In Love is a simple love story that somehow manages to untangle the complexities of life. Here, Thomas passes off a nostalgic quality that freezing time around you, reaching the core of what she sets out to achieve with Cosmos Forever. Simplicity through song, and with unbridled honesty, Thomas cuts through all the transactional behaviour and subterfuge that contaminates this modern world.
Lea Thomas - Cosmos ForeverBauhuni follows suite, as Thomas delivers a Mimi Parker-inspired folk-lament. Through balance and repetition, Thomas orchestrates something that is equal parts organic and hypnotic, drifting down exciting new paths that evaded her on previous releases. Meanwhile, River Runs Through evokes the same response as We Must be In Love (“What type of magic has brought us together?”). While building on the same structures that have served her well in the past, here Thomas delivers something that both sounds and feels so much more dynamic.
So too with A Thousand Leaves, which arouses the imagery of open space. That nomadic vibe that is essentially the fulcrum of this new world Thomas has created. It continues on the beautiful closer, You Belong to No One. With a line like, “By the summer you disappeared”, it’s a lament that hits you with an emotional force when you least expect it.
It’s not that Cosmos Forever is a wistful album, but the more time spent in its company, the more you realise there’s a melancholic undercurrent that is vital to these songs. A kind of sadness that one can learn and grow from and on Cosmos Forever, Lea Thomas does just that. Her songs are all the better for it, too.
Cosmos Forever is out via Triple Dolphin Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.
