The Greater Wings – Julie Byrne ★★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2023	The Greater Wings	Julie Byrne	★★★★	85	Pop	Singer-Songwriter	Indie Folk

Julie Byrne’s The Greater Wings represents the gold standard for what a traditional singer-songwriter album in the modern music landscape should be: lush, atmosphere-setting instrumentals that compliment a captivating, intimate vocal performance, with poetic lyrics filled with imagery and emotion. This is the way to do it. 

Julie Byrne doesn’t ask you to do too much. You don’t have to dive too deep into the lyrics or the artist to uncover meaning or to identify common themes. And, compared to so many of her contemporaries, you don’t have to sit through boring, derivative instrumentals just because you appreciate the lyricism on the record. 

The musical textures are so rich from beginning to end, with chamber-folk instrumentation that brings together string orchestrations, distant guitars and electronic accents that make the songs and her vocals feel almost one with nature. I think “Flare” is the standout track here because its arpeggiating guitar gives it a bit more momentum compared to the other moments on the album, but most tracks blend together in an aesthetically pleasing way. Because of that, The Greater Wings is always impressive, is always interesting and always extremely pleasant to listen to.