Album Review: Sarah June’s In Black Robes

Sarah June‘s sophomore album, In Black Robes, is a breathy, soul-plucking follow-up to her 2008 debut entitled This is My Letter to the World. We’re going to go whole hog and just say it – we love this album. No objections there. Our only objection is the idea that in one way or another this is considered to be a “goth” album. Perhaps it’s us, but the closest thing to goth imagery we’re seeing is June herself in press shots – all of which is fitting of who she is, but not necessarily a reflection of her musical genre.

Quite thankfully, her goth-ness is not quite the selling point as Avril Lavigne’s “punk-ness”, but we digress. We’re actually getting more of a subdued ethereal rock with folk/Americana undertones and a bleary-eyed view of life. Sure, we are haunted by ghosts present, past, and future, brought to light by June’s signature harmonies in an at times otherwordly key. But all this does not a solely-goth album make. June’s style is much more than that, and whether or not she knows it, she owns it.

Of course, while that’s a major reason why we like her, it’s the way she paints emotion-centered visuals with her words that gets us, from constructive observations to back-burner realizations: “You bend your words like you bend the streets / [...] and I woke up to a photo negative landscape / [...] I took up smoking because I want to be a cowboy” (“Cowboy”); “I’m just a lonely skeleton in my coffing black / Singing love songs to the grim reaper; I hope he brings me back” (“Judgement Day”). And now that we think about it, her voice lands somewhere between Talking Tina and Marilyn Monroe. It tickles and weirds us out in a good way.

The themes and performance encompassing the overall execution of In Black Robes makes us wonder what kind of inspiration would be necessary for, say, a third album. Take it as a challenge, Sarah June.

In Black Robes is available on Silber Records.

Click to Buy for $12

Rating: 7/10

Track List
01. Cowboy
02. Crossbones in Your Eyes
03. Judgment Day
04. From My Window High
05. The Reaper
06. Bluesy Melody
07. Brand ofBitterness
08. Paper Lantern
09. In Your Chevrolet
10. Motown
11. Sally Go Round the Roses
12. Fencepost
13. ‘Til You Hit the Pavement