Tea Leigh’s Warm, Woolly Folk [stream]

Both experiencing nature and being in love seem to force vulnerability. Stripped of all pretenses and dishonesty, these two elements can certainly leave us battered, but survival can make us stronger. Tea Leigh writes music drenched in both nature and love that sounds beautifully weathered and wise.

Leigh’s self-recorded album, Make Things, is so deliciously lo-fi, there’s almost a layer of grime and smoke filtered in through the clouds of sound. Filled with crunchy, woolly folk tales, there’s no makeup, no lights, no charades, and Leigh is ever aware that love is a mysterious, disheveled thing: “asking for my body to press against your summer skin, we both knew the mess we was layin’ in.” The Boston/Brooklyn songstress carries a fragile, relatable feel, but with untamable strength. “Wolves & Wild Eyes” finds her boasting of stripping herself down and swimming with wolves, feeling proud and wild. Her vocals are CocoRosie meets Joanna Newsom, and her style is somewhat reminiscent of Angel Olsen for its organic and endearing eccentrics.

Make Things is a record about sex, life, boys and the complications that result thereof, but mostly it’s a record about love — the young, messy, wild sort. This is a record for poet souls, romantics, and raggedy real people. Find the best headphones you can, bundle up on your bed, and savor the bare-skinned warmth of Tea Leigh.