On her debut Please Be Mine, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Molly Burch channels the sun-speckled, slow-growing songs of yesteryear. A little bit blithe, but never wholly indifferent, Burch’s deep country- and jazz-inflected vocals are reminiscent of Patsy Cline or of Nico. They are a welcome addition to a tradition whose contemporary members include Angel Olson and Jessica Pratt.
Like the lineage she has stepped into, Burch’s songs sound most certain when expressing their doubts. “I don’t know, but I know,” sings Cline on “She’s Got You,” and Burch admits something similar on “Please Forgive Me”: “Why did I leave you/ Why did I go?/ I cannot tell you, baby/ cause I don’t know.” This chorus expands to the top of her range, the height of honesty. Burch’s songwriting is full of these sparse, balanced phrases that leave plenty of room to pause and breathe, and that open the music up to more down the road.
More about: Molly Burch
