Ashley Shadow — „Only the End“ (Sept. 24, 2021)
✹ Kanadská písničkářka Ashley Webber, alias Ashley Shadow, sebevědomě vykračuje z převráceného vraku auta v letech 2020~21 albem svým svěžím a povznášejícím pojetím základního americana~rocku.
✹ Ashley Shadow mrká na temnotu, ale ona vás k tomu nevede. Je snadné propadnout kouzlu Ashleyina vtíravého hlasu. Skladatelka si vytvořila vlastní identitu jako singer~songwriterka se stejnojmenným debutem roku 2016. Její druhé album Only the End udržuje náladovou introspekci, zakořeněnou v životě severozápadního Pacifiku, ale autorka nyní přichází vyzbrojena hmatatelnou nadějí, doplňující její signaturní melancholii. Obsahuje nejhezčí vokály od Bonnie „Prince“ Billyho v písni „Don’t Slow Me Down“. Pro fanoušky: Sharon Van Etten, Big Thief, Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen, Neko Case, Bonnie „Prince“ Billy, Bill Callahan, Steve Gunn, Kurt Vile, Cass McCombs, Jessica Pratt, Kevin Morby, Molly Burch Phosphorescent, Waxahatchee, boygenius (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus) atd.

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN
Album release: Sept. 24, 2021/Oct. 29, 2021 (Vinyl)
Record Label: FELTE RECORDS
Duration:     38:22
Tracks:
01. Gone Too Long   4:31    
02. For Love   3:16    
03. Don’t Slow Me Down   4:30    
04. Grey   4:53    
05. From You   2:25        
06. I Will Remember   3:54    
07. Unspoken   4:16    
08. Nothing   2:47        
09. Catlin   3:24    
10. Bury   4:26
Credits:
✹ Ryan Beattie  Bass, Guitar, Vocals
✹ Bonnie “Prince” Billy  Featured Artist
✹ Colin Cowan  Bass
✹ Justin Gradin  Artwork, Layout
✹ Phaedra Harder  Layout
✹ Brock McFarlane  Mastering
✹ Will Oldham  Vocals
✹ Paul Rigby  Mandolin, Pedal Steel
✹ Matt Skillings  Drums
✹ Ashley Webber  Composer, Guitar, Producer, Vocals
✹ Joshua Wells  Bass, Drums, Keyboards, Mixing, Producer

Only the End Review by Marcy Donelson | Score: ★★★★
✹ Having long parted ways with Vancouver post~punk band the Organ and sung on albums by Pacific Northwest acts including the Cave Singers and the Pink Mountaintops, Vancouver~based musician Ashley Webber debuted her aching, often ghostly indie rock under the stage alias Ashley Shadow in full~length form in 2016.
Another credit on her résumé by that point was singing for Bonnie “Prince” Billy. The latter’s Will Oldham now returns the favor, making an appearance on “Don’t Slow Me Down” from the project’s subtly more hopeful follow~up, Only the End. A poignant highlight from an album full of understated poignancy, the song has Webber and Oldham trading and sharing lines in triplet time as they look back on a relationship gone sour.
✹ A languid track with, for the most part, only measure~marking instrumental backing in the form of sustained electric and pedal steel guitar and, later, minimal drums, the song sighs from beginning to end. Though every track conveys a heavily reflective state, more energetic entries here include the psychedelic~leaning “For Love,” which employs both a shaker and drum fills in its timekeeping, and the uptempo rock entry “Nothing,” whose lush layers of fuzz and echo never bury vocals about endurance and loss. Also included in that group is forward~looking closer “Bury,” which adds glistening keys to its strummed design amidst lyrics that regret “…keep burying all these troubled souls.” Before it arrives there, though, Only the End prefers to linger in a trudging, spectral sustain as the singer grapples with trauma and trust. It’s another touching, haunting work from Shadow and returning producer Joshua Wells (Lightning Dust, Black Mountain).
✹ https://www.allmusic.com/album/only-the-end-mw0003563709
Bob Fish | 24 September, 2021:
✹ https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2021/09/ashley-shadow-only-the-end/
Trev Elkin | Sept. 23, 2021 | Score: 8/10:
✹ hhttps://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2021/09/23/ashley-shadow-only-the-end-felte/
BC: https://ashleyshadow.bandcamp.com/album/only-the-end