ALBUM REVIEW: Tenci – A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing

Keeled Scales

Released: 04.11.22

Tenci’s 2019 album My Heart Is An Open Field was an understated delight, her vocals recalling early Joanna Newsom, married with fantastic, expressive guitar playing.

Tenci’s second record is considerably more fleshed out instrumentally, and takes cues from 90s college rock. These concise, unusual songs canter by, seemingly collapsing under their own emotional weight. Be applies post-rock sensibilities to Tenci’s already weighty emotional palette, and her group’s wonderful capacity for vocal harmonies are showcased on The Ball Spins. Idiosyncratic without ever being forced, plain speaking without ever resorting to cliché, this is a pure understated delight that hits the head, the heart and the gut in equal measure.