By AVA LIVERSIDGE
The rising chamber-pop songstress Bryn Battani’s new EP Guest Room weaves folk storytelling through intricate melodic tapestries, making this collection one of undeniable promise.
The Austin-based singer-songwriter aims to maintain her western roots by filtering Americana stylings through pop instrumentation.
What results is the curious melange of the slight wistfulness of western storytellers and pulsing electronically-filtered horn and string arrangements that we delight in on Guest Room, out today.
Guest Room is vaguely theatrical—vibrato and quivering instrumental arrangements abound, and paired with Battani’s distinct narrative voice—the listener gets the feeling that they are being let in on some tale. Following the 2023 release of her EP Hang Your Clothes, a flash journey into the winding mind of an artist obsessed, Guest Room mellows into the tone of a confessional.
On singles “Ya Don’t Think,” “Dicey (the Floor Song),” and “The Thing,” Battani’s hollow vocals float over sliding string interludes. Almost offering the impression of a cooing bird, we are pulled over the thorny stories of social entanglements and anxieties by the jaunt of her bedroom pop arrangements. The tracks are approachably angsty, but not sloppily put together.
Single two, “Dicey (The Floor Song),” clearly stands alone. Battani’s full western flair takes stage with a fiddle opener paired with shaky vocals. The track unwinds into a sort of yearning ballad, typical of the outlaw country tradition. But before anyone gets too comfortable, a saxophone solo infuses an unexpected brightness into the track. “Dicey (The Floor Song)” closes with an apt summary of Battani as an artist and storyteller: She’s “never not sincere.”
Upcoming tracks, “So-Lo” and “Weighted Blanket,” take inspiration from Elliott Smith, impressing listeners with a girl and her guitar impression, with a lot more lying right below. Or rather, right behind in lush synth and violin arrangements. On the EP Guest Room, Battani simultaneously keeps listeners’ feet tapping along to familiar Americana tropes and has them on the edge of their seats. Stream Guest Room here.
Guest Room tracklist:
“Ya Don’t Think”
“So-Lo”
“Dicey (The Floor Song)”
“Weighted Blanket”
“~The Thing~”