Hot on the heels of our premiere of June Swoon’s track Marrying Kind, we’re pleased to give you a run down on her album This Town Could Be Big Enough For The Both Of Us.

By Graeme Smith

June Swoon is an LA-based act that takes a healthy dollop of inspiration from American folk-indie from the past couple of decades, most notably former Rilo Kiley front-woman Jenny Lewis as well as bands such as Modest Mouse, Brand New and Death Cab For Cutie. Anyone who shared similar musical taste during their formative years will lap up June Swoon’s sound.

While Marrying Kind felt like easily-defined modern Americana, there is a surprising range of sounds and styles on show in This Town Could Be Big Enough For The Both Of Us. The opening track, eponymous with the album, kicks off with a drone, accompanied by isolated vocals and strings. It could have come directly from Nancy Sinatra-era easy listening.

It’s not long before the guitars join in, with second track Whatever Ever After but riff-laden and full of heartbreak. The album continues in this vein through American Dream before slowing things down for Transatlantic Accent and Cactus Tree.

This middle of the album hangs around Marrying Kind, a track we already know and love and feels nicely placed to get things back up to speed. It’s really by this point that the theme of lost love and soured relationships becomes unmistakable. There is a lot of genuine, introspective emotion in what June Swoon has written. This is a great break up album.

Heading towards the end of the album, the introspection gets deeper and the experimentation wilder, though not to the extent that the album integrity gets lost. Things are rounded off nicely with the expansive, atmospheric Blood From A Stone. Narratively speaking, it feels like we get closure.

This Town Could Be Big Enough For The Both Of Us by June Swoon is out 18 October 2019, available via BandCamp and Spotify.