CHASING AN ILLUSION

Among certain artists in one's genres of choice and among most artists in the genres whose company one does not choose, can be a tendency to produce seemingly impenetrable opuses, leaving one wondering what one is missing that presumably makes other listeners kvell as if they composed, arranged, produced and performed it themselves. Such disks can jettison us into unrecognizable worlds in which one must find food, shelter, and a modicum of the pleasures that one can only seek when both food and shelter are present, without any idea of how to go about it. LARKIN GRIMM's first couple of albums were like that for me, amorphous thought bubbles of either very low or very high sentience from which wails would escape via the wrong, or perhaps, no filter at all. Then there are the ones to which, with the effort affordable on a lengthy road trip courtesy of spotify on repeat, one adapts to the few originally obscure clues and is rewarded many times over. "Chasing an Illusion" worked in this manner for me.

With the early acoustic days behind her, and a generally warmer and more controlled voice and style reminiscent of SALLY OLDFIELD among others, Grimm again engages a band of master musicians, who elevate each and every track. The sprinkling jazz tinged harps of "Fear Transforms into Love" and "I Don't Believe You", companion pieces that highlight her expanding vocal skills; the joyous should-have-been-a-hitness of "Beautifully Alone" that resonates among the perennially single on yet another solo journey; the ambient ballad "A Perfect World"; and the closer and title track with its heaving sax and anguished screams which seem to have brought Grimm full circle all epitomize the secrets herein, revealed with gracious subtlety or hurling impact as needed.

Given that "Chasing an Illusion" is still Grimm's latest as of this writing, eight long years later, one can be both simultaneously optimistic and concerned for her future, but hopefully she will yet return with a work that is just as fantastically real.

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