By: Hope Ankney
Coffee shops, record stores, vintage shops, art lounges, book resellers. These are all places that transcends time and space. They can either catapult one backwards or forwards into a different era, but they do this in an almost comforting way. The fresh roasting of coffee that’s reminiscent of a childhood bubbling with a pot brewed every morning, the scent of records from days past, the stories told between the thrifted threads, the hung artwork that has endless perspectives depending on the eyes that view it, and the dog-eared, yellow-tinged pages of words that’s been swapped down, fingerprints littering each and every page all act as time capsules. They stop reality, offering a nice breather once one bustles in the door, a break to soothe a mind that’s a bit under-the-weather, gentle arms reaching out as one decompresses in between the folds of these environments. If one could condense everything gentle and remedying about these places into an individual, though, Gretchen Pleuss takes the cake.
It’s been an anticipatory wait for Cleveland-based, Folk-Americana singer/songwriter Gretchen Pleuss to return to the National Folk scene, but with the drop of her third-record, Daughter of Broader Skies, it feels as though her ghosted presence never existed. Even though she is fairly new to the world of National Folk, Pleuss has the ability to firmly stand alongside seasoned veterans, offering her own interpretation of the artists that came to make that scene beloved, in the first place. Unlike many singers who stumble trying to find their own distinct voice in the Folk landscape, Pleuss has never had to try very hard to rise from that fog to stand alongside the likes of Joni Mitchell and Jenny Lewis. She is able to capture the very essence of what that scene stands for, transcending the chains of modern music to carry the listener through trials and tribulations, but offering the slight comfort that her stories can bring to those who need a voice that sounds like a friend more than a stranger as they crackle through the speakers.
With Pleuss’ upper-register, airy deliveries, and evocative lyricism, it’s obvious why she can give at least a little something to anyone who comes across her music. Daughter of Broader Skies reads like an open-invitation to her diary which is especially special to hold closer if one is a young woman, as Pleuss allows herself to strip bare regarding her own struggles of being a woman, exploring the challenging inner-conflicts that she goes through to find exactly where she fits into this life. Although the record bounces around from themes of identity, to feminism, to heartbreak, to injustice, it is Pleuss’ most cohesive work to date. As Pleuss’ stated herself about the background of the album, it journeys through the rabbit holes of wonderment through the likes of “Where does a woman fit in the world at large?” and “Why do humans behave the way they do?”
The album’s first single, “Everybody’s Pretty” gained its inspiration through a trip Pleuss took to New York City. As she observed the generous facades that covered the city’s inhabitants one day while exploring on her own, she owns the fact that the mask people wear day-in-and-day-out often leads to isolation and dark greys once the mask is hung up behind closed doors. Everyone is craving for deeper interactions that go past the skin-deep interactions that seem to dominate the every-day life. She accentuates this with the ever-so remarkable yet simple lyric, “Even the most beautiful people can be the saddest” over her melodious timbre and warm guitars.
Pleuss’ last pre-release was the namesake of the record, “Daughter of Broader Skies,” and whereas most title-tracks seem to fall the flattest in terms of a record’s overall praise, that isn’t the case here. “Daughter of Broader Skies” was written in a last-ditch attempt for Pleuss to center herself, needing some time away to figure out where her mind was in relation to her purpose. She booked herself into a cabin in West Virginia without any amenities, hoping to regain her sense of spirit by spending time with the one person she knows best, herself. “Daughter of Broader Skies” features Pleuss’ warm, airy vocals, and a catchy melody that feels sunny even though it details the rambles of fear and anxiety.
But, where Pleuss shines the brightest on this record is, of course, in her natural ability to create kindred lyrics that send the words straight to one’s heart –From “If you saw me now would you question what I’ve done? If you saw me now would you understand why I always run?” to “You ask if I love you. I don’t love the way you hate yourself, and I can’t be your savior. You can’t find that love in someone else.” to a more guilty “[a woman] who hides her feelings in the sheets of every man she’s ever known” to the self-deprecating “There’s parts of me he’d learn to hate. There’s parts of me I already hate” that causes misty-eyes and heavier chests.
Daughter of Broader Skies pulls at one’s psyche and heart from its very beginning to its end. Fans and critics alike see the journey of self-discovery and belonging through Pleuss’ lens, offering a theme for everyone to find themselves in. Pleuss’ light, dewey voice among her gentle guitar acts as the listener’s vessel through inner-conflict. And, if anything, Daughter of Broader Skies should be welcomed with open arms, because it not only solidifies Pleuss’ place in the Folk world, but it encourages the fact that it seems Pleuss has never left.
