Tara Jane O’Neil

A Ways Away (K)

By Amanda McCorquodale
Published: May 15th, 2009 | 7:00am

There’s that moment right before you fall asleep when you feel the sort of ecstasy born from straddling two waking states. You’re aware of drifting off, but still alert enough to enjoy the feeling. That gauzy, twilight moment is stretched to 37 minutes on Tara Jane O‘Neil’s new solo album, A Ways Away. In 10 short tracks, O‘Neil’s honeyed, understated vocals drape loosely around guitars that are blurred and echoed until they become woozy and dreamlike.

To help build this murky, shimmering world, Portland, Oregon–based O‘Neil collaborated with a bevy of musicians, including Jana Hunter, violinist Jean Cook, members of Ida, and Osa Atoe of the New Bloods. The resulting, folksy compositions are suffused with languid guitars and steadied with ethereal tambourine jangles. On the album’s first track, O‘Neil breathily greets us with the sweetly sung “Dig In” as an introspective guitar twangs over the course of the track. On "Pearl Into Sand," a guitar solo serves as a lonesome troubadour traversing the foggy, old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. The last track, “The Drowning Electric,” is a complete submersion in O‘Neil’s heady sound, and its purring reverb hints at the tiny bit of lucidity right before slumber closes in.

O‘Neil is a gifted guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist with an ear for hushed soundscapes and nocturnal sonic textures. She whispers and strums these siren-song lullabies as the soundtrack to being carried away in the arms of Morpheus. A Ways Away is achy bedroom indie at its best; just don’t operate any heavy machinery whilst giving it a listen.

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