[Editor’s note: Ball of Wax 67 is coming! And for the first time in two years we’re having a live, in-person, release show! Join us March 12th at 7pm at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle for performances by Lacey Brown, Mt Fog, Summer Sleeves, Sun Tunnels with Seth Howard, and Triskaideka. Tickets available on Bandcamp.]
Lacey Brown is a wonderful addition to the roster of Ball of Wax contributors. The songwriter behind Poor Clare is an active Seattle artist with several albums worth diving into. “Thin Air” is a thoughtful and carefully crafted song with a deeply resonant theme for any listener. “Is it okay if I disappear into thin air” is the hook and theme throughout. It is one of those lines immediately relatable on many levels. And then, after the first chorus, it’s as if the songs disappears into thin air. The driving beat is dissipated into echoes and ripples like drops of water on a calm clear lake. A half time beat picks back up for a second verse with deeper reflective questions.
I want to see this Lacey Brown live somewhere in a Seattle venue. [You can! Try the Ball of Wax 67 release show! -ed.] Her music is beautifully layered, as in the song “Thin Air.” A seemingly simple acoustic guitar lays down the musical progression with background ambiance lightly building for the vocals to enter. A few more acoustic guitars enter at various points, never crowding the musical space but complementing it and slowly building the emotion. One of my favorite parts of “Thin Air” is after the first verse’s line “Vanishing the night” (I may have misinterpreted this line). An edgy bass line comes in and takes us into the chorus. That bass line, simple but elegantly well placed and executed does so much to transition and change the dynamics of the song.
All these well layered sounds and textures seem well suited for a live show. Equally suited for listening via candlelight on a rainy Seattle evening. Hopefully this will not be the last we hear of Lacey Brown on the Ball of Wax or in Seattle. I’m very impressed with how it all comes together sonically in “Thin Air.” The echoes, the ambiance, the effects, the instruments, the vocals, all the resonance between these elements is an amazing accomplishment and an enjoyable listen many times over.