With her fourth album,
Out Past the Lights, Brooklyn-based, New Mexico-reared singer/songwriter
Ana Egge puts her age-defying pipes on display, sounding a couple decades older than her actual age of 28. Her rich, distinct voice and knack for songcraft is visualized with the help of producer
Jason Mercer, who offers a sparse presentation for the countrified, pedal steel-steered keeper "Apple Tree" and the threadbare folk of "Stone Bone." Fuller instrumentation -- specifically the inclusion of
Shane Endsley's trumpet -- bodes well for "Motorcycle" and "Straight to My Head," but the album's peak is "Wedding Dress," which wraps all of the pain of love breaking down up in a once-celebrated garment. Although it has a number of delicate moments on the surface (like "Sailor" and the succinctly magical "Victoria"),
Out Past the Lights is resilient just the same. ~ John D. Luerssen