ALBUM REVIEW: Jenny Owen Youngs Distills a Tempestuous Decade Into ‘Avalanche’

Jenny Owen Youngs has lived through just about every possible human experience since her last full-length album in 2012, An Unwavering Band of Light. Eleven years, a marriage, a divorce, a second marriage, and a baby later, Owen Youngs returns to the microphone with her intimate Avalanche. The album finds Owen Youngs in top form with her primary calling card: juxtaposing cutting lyrics with seemingly innocuous hooks. On Avalanche, Owen Youngs twists the knife deeper by leaning into warm, acoustic guitars and whispering drum loops.

It all adds up to a meditation on loss and change. We get the sense that Owen Youngs is a paralyzed observer, overcome with grief. “Goldenrod,” which hangs on a familiar *NSYNC hook (perhaps unconsciously), evolves into a story of grief amid tragedy. The penetrating “Salt” acts as a warning to anyone trying to overcome their worst impulses. The song’s driving beat hints at playfulness as Owen Youngs admonishes herself for burying pain too deep, only for it to emerge at inopportune times. The pointed “It’s Later Than You Think” pokes fun at Owen Youngs’ own penchant for doomscrolling, though the lighthearted melody contrasts with Owen Youngs’ observation that time is too precious to spend on screens. No matter the tone, these songs show us a narrator who is as trapped by circumstance and is just as bewildered as the listener.

There’s always a flip side to the coin, of course. “Everglades” is a twangy, teasing reminiscence of a getaway that questions the narrator’s reliability, just as the narrator challenges her partner’s perspective. We also see Owen Youngs attempting to start a new relationship — with all the pain and awkwardness that brings — on the sultry and hopeful “Set It on Fire.” This tension is best expressed in “Knife Went In,” a sweetly heartbreaking song about partners striving to move past the scars of their previous relationships.

It’s not accurate to say that Jenny Owen Youngs has improved her craft on Avalanche — it’s hard to do that with talent that’s already so great — but it is evident that Owen Youngs is hitting her stride. This collection of songs is as vulnerable and catchy as ever, but there is a sense of closeness that comes from a heart that has been wounded too many times to hold back any longer.

Jenny Owen Youngs’ Avalanche is out Sept. 22 on Yep Roc Records.