I Think We’ve Met Before by Amy Rose Mills

For fans of Caroline, Current 93, The Microphones, slowcore, and the hidden mental violence of sitting alone in your thoughts, I Think We’ve Met Before by Amy Rose Mills presents a subtle rendition of the folk singer-songwriter style made complete with some fascinating influences from experimental and noise-adjacent traditions. While generally simmering in the minimal space of sparse acoustic guitars and melancholic neoclassical strings, extremely gentle swells into dense, fleeting moments of instrumental tension pepper the record with the threat of powers looming far overhead. Once we’ve trained our ears to look for this esoteric darkness, we start finding evidence in every component of these songs, with distant, discordant backup performances and uneven, organic rhythms igniting an anxious flame deep within as our souls beg for catharsis. Though we never get that one huge moment of release, we learn to accept the comfort in these whispering vocal passages and moments of near-harmony, making peace with our demons as we settle down for lifetime imprisonment within our own minds.