Folk-pop singer-songwriter Kim Edwards has released her latest album, Vignettes.
Coming together over the course of the last decade, Vignettes is the amalgamation of books, podcasts, and the lives of Kim Edwards’ friends and strangers alike.
Created to act like a gallery of sorts, the 10-track, 44-minute album explores topics such as heartbreak, the weariness and resilience of always having to keep going in life, inspiration from The Little Prince, and the ache of having to leave people who can no longer be themselves.
Featuring piano, horns, and strings throughout, Kim Edwards’ background in classical music creates a lush orchestration across the album, making each track feel both monumental and tender all at the same time–whether it’s a quiet piano ballad or something more instrumentally complex.
“Some friends have pointed out that the album seems to have a sad, or at least melancholy theme to it,” says Edwards. “It wasn’t my intention to create a bummer album, but it is sometimes easier for me to dig deep into the more achey feelings, and try to give words to these nuanced emotions.
“I think I’m just more naturally drawn to these types of songs; there’s something really comforting and validating in hearing a song that makes you think, ‘ah, that person gets it’. Empathy is powerful. So maybe the common thread is less about sadness and more about empathy.”
Produced with Edwards’ longtime collaborator Jared Salte, the album also features strings from Rob Szabo, a horn section featuring Fletch Wiley on flugelhorn/trumpet and Phil Miller on trombone.
Edwards’ goal for Vignettes was to have them be exactly that–unconnected snapshots, creating the same sense as a series of old photographs or snippets of writing saved across the span of many years.
In this, she has been successful; through the album, there is a sense of loose familiarity between tracks, through similar moods, and held together by Edwards’ gentle, unpolished vocals. The lack of one overarching, consistent mood can be tricky for some artists, but Kim Edwards has handled it more than well on Vignettes.
A nostalgic, melancholic, whimsical album overall, Vignettes is both a special and somewhat fragile listening experience.
