The new album from Wished Bone, Sap Season, drops tomorrow. And it's the sort of release that will likely earn comparisons to any number of albums from female singer-songwriters in 2019. However, there's a lot of wit here, and a languid melodic sense that really caught me off-guard.
Opener "Hold Me" is reminiscent of stuff from Widowspeak, while "Cops" is a good deal funnier than this kind of music is usually allowed to be. If Ashley Rhodus is using Wished Bone as a vehicle for folk-influenced music, she owes as much to Juliana Hatfield, That Dog, and early Liz Phair for her way with a hook and a set of lyrics as she does any singer armed with just an acoustic guitar. "Pink Room" might be fairly mellow, but it's got a riff that, if amplified, would sound like any number of tracks from Veruca Salt, while "Trees We Couldn't Tell The Size Of" is skewed indie of the best kind.
Ashley Rhodus lets "Moon" stand on its own as a gentle, beautiful number, but other tracks here, like the ones I already mentioned, have bits and pieces within them that place them closer to, say, Belly than Black Belt Eagle Scout. That's not a dig at any other artist but, rather, an indication that this material is a bit more complex than it seems at first, and Ashley Rhodus has a great ear for a winning tune punctuated by smart, sharp words.
Sap Season is out on Friday.
More details on Wished Bone via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Force Field PR]