NPR’S BEST ALBUMS OF 2020
The Best Albums of 2020 List
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“Her dense arrangements — layered with dainty piano melodies, horns, tape loops, the works — achieve a cozy lushness, as if she were spinning a protective cocoon in which to retreat from the traumas that populate her songs.”
EP artwork For the EP, Crain drew inspiration from her Norman, OK neighborhood through the idea of “vacationing in your own backyard,” explaining how the pandemic found her re-discovering the beauty of her hometown. “There were alleyways I’d passed every day that I’d never noticed, flowering bushes that I’d never glanced at, and craftsman houses with porch cats and gardens… parks I’d never walked to the center of, trails I’d never walked, public statues I’d never turned towards. I felt like a tourist in my own town.”
Continuing on this theme, Crain will be giving away a prize of hand-selected items made and locally sourced in her home state of Oklahoma, with a total value worth over $1,000. The winner will be chosen from those who pre-order the EP; More info/pre-order HERE.“I want to remember and celebrate the specific beauty of the complex place I live and the fascinating things being made here,” she says, “It will include art prints and objects by some of my favorite local artists, a guitar pedal from a local boutique pedal company, books by local authors and on local interest, local food products, and other goodies.”Crain is currently nominated for the Artist of the Year at the 2021 International Folk Music Awards. Her latest LP, A Small Death, was released last year to critical acclaim from NPR Music, New York Times, Uncut Magazine, MOJO and more. The album marked the first release and artist signing for Real Kind Records, a new label founded by UK-based artist Lucy Rose.Praise for Crain and A Small Death:“[of ‘An Echo’] The deliberate, mournful song evokes all the feelings about
complicated relationships that we sometimes push way down.”
READ HERE“…evocative imagery and impassioned, hushed vocals”★★★★
“Crain has always been good, but on ‘A Small Death’ she’s genuinely great”
★★★★“A stirring comeback”
“Crain’s striking vocals wrap around her indie folk/rockers with requisite sensitivity and intensity”
“her powerful vocals and eclectic sounds have continued to defy expectations”Crain’s last LP, A Small Death, found the Oklahoma-based artist confronting decades of grief, trauma and an incapacitating physical pain which left the singer home in bed and barely able to perform or play an instrument. “I didn’t completely die, but I feel like I died a little bit and that allowed me this new beginning,” Crain explains. “What I was trying to capture with this record, really, was a sense of reconstruction.” A Small Death is the sixth studio LP from Crain, following the release of 2017’s You Had Me At Goodbye. She won two NAMMYs (Native American Music Awards) in 2009, the Indigenous Music Award for Best Rock Album in 2019, and has toured with a range of artists including The Avett Brothers, Neutral Milk Hotel, Brandi Carlile, The Mountain Goats, Josh Ritter, First Aid Kit, Deer Tick and more.Follow us on twitter: @emmreport,@daddyspalace,@bestallstars, instagram @emmreport
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