Review Summary: A sweet summer breeze of an album
That Spell is the sophomore full-length from Nebraska musician Andrea Von Kampen. Her previous effort, 2019’s
Old Country , was a solid slice of country-tinged indie folk which displayed the newcomer’s ample talent, but it’s with her second try that Von Kampen has truly come into her own.
At its heart, this album is the type of bare-bones singer-songwriter folk which has been a mainstay of a certain corner of the music world for decades. Von Kampen’s wondrous voice, which approaches angelic, and her competent guitar melodies would be enough to power a solid release, but there is also additional instrumentation which fleshes out the record. Take a look at the album’s Bandcamp page, and you’ll see a small host of instrumental contributors, providing backup from the fairly standard (piano and drums) to the more unusual (among them, violin and flugelhorn). The arrangements and production are tastefully executed to accentuate the album's airy cocktail of warming folk and the end result creates a lushness and shimmer which almost resembles something akin to dream pop.
While none of the album’s ten tracks are surefire classics, every one of them is a simple joy to listen to. The opener, “Of Him I Love Both Day And Night”, is the album at its most stripped down and barely passes the one-minute mark, but lays the groundwork for all the exceptionally pretty music to come. The bucolic Americana of “Celilo” is another earlier standout, while “Carolina” (arguably the album’s best tune) and the earnest romanticism of “Wedding Song” anchoring the record’s second half. While it can be argued that few (if any) of these tracks achieve great memorability on their own, taken as a whole the album produces a wonderful vibe. Lyrically, this is very solid, but it must be said that the impressive vocals and blissful instrumentation tend to overshadow lyrical content for the listener’s focus.
With hordes of rising female singer-songwriters currently making waves in the indie, folk, and country scenes, Andrea Von Kampen will inevitably draw comparisons, given that her music sits staunchly in the midst of these strands. Nonetheless, with
That Spell , she has created a work which goes its own way and stands up to many of the best of her peers. There’s still potential for her to achieve even greater things in the future, but this is an album worth many spins, especially when the weather is warm and the mood is right. In the highlight song “Carolina”, Von Kampen repeatedly sings “I think my time has come”, and if there’s any justice, she may be right.
