Singer-songwriter Talena Bricker’s latest EP, War Line, is an engaging indie-folk offering that balances poetic abstraction with visceral emotionality. It’s a rare feat to be broadly resonate yet wield mystique. The result is that the Pacific Northwest native’s sophomore album satisfies like a work of literature, and it rewards with repeated listens. The more you immerse yourself in Talena’s songs, the more meaning you find.
“When I write, I’m grappling with complicated feelings and narratives. I ask questions in music and leave things open-ended and unresolved. That’s life, and that’s what feels human to me. It brings me a beautiful catharsis, and it helps me to connect with others as they can use these songs to make sense of their own lives,” the Richland, Washington-based artist shares.
After decades of privately writing songs, in 2018 Talena boldly stepped forward with her debut EP. Her first release was an intimate voice and acoustic guitar record that earned rave reviews from online outlets such as Ear To The Ground and When The Horn The Blows. Since then, Talena has grown artistically through playing shows, and sharing her music in front of live audiences.
Her latest release, War Line, finds her incorporating a lusher Americana soundscape into her literate indie-folk. This expanded palette of instrumentation includes ethereal pedal steel, pastoral violin flourishes, and sensitive guitar, bass, and drums interplay. Talena’s latest work recalls the subtle country-tinged beauty of songwriter indie artists such as Gregory Alan Isakov, Patrick Park, and John Paul White. The 5-song EP was recorded at Rye Room in Portland by studio owner and producer Matt Greco.
