The sophomore full-length effort from the American indie rock trio featuring Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg and Cross Record's Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, Don't Shy Away sees Loma deliver an impressive and impressionistic set of songs that combine elemental dream pop and dark folktronica. Both immaculate and rustic -- the album was recorded in Texas at Duszynski's home studio -- there is plenty of connective tissue between Don't Shy Away and the band's evocative 2018 eponymous debut. This time around, the arrangements are bolstered by an array of samples and instrumentation (koto, clarinet, glockenspiel) that flirt with worldbeat and early-'80s art rock. After setting the table with the spare and hypnotic "I Fix My Gaze," Loma unveil their most enticing dish to date. "Ocotillo," which takes its name from a spiny desert shrub that translates from Spanish to "little torch," is a master class in sonic worldbuilding, a slow-burning peyote trance rocker that evokes "Kashmir" by way of Jeff Buckley's "New Year's Prayer," with a bit of Broadcast tossed in for good measure. "Half Silence" follows suit, but swaps out the palliative pulse of its predecessor with an icy motorik cadence that yields a similar cinematic sweep. The harp- and acoustic guitar-backed title cut provides a nice showcase for Cross' expressive and crystalline voice, as does the hymn-like closer "Homing," which utilizes the production expertise of Brian Eno, who adds his signature ambient imprint to the band's already atmosphere-drenched sound. Inward-looking, mysterious, and awash in found sounds, bucolic electronics, and naturalistic imagery, Don't Shy Away is both inexplicable and compelling, and is easily Loma's most rewarding outing to date.
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