I'm glad I stumbled upon this. Secrets For A Deer is seven tracks somewhere between experimental pop and plugg; this music finds paths less traveled while simultaneously exploring familiar ground. It's always refreshing to hear off-kilter pop music with a distinct personality. These are mostly short, sincere ballad-esque songs: delightfully uncanny.

Would it be way off to say that this sometimes sits somewhere between Tirzah and Smerz? Maybe what I’m hearing is Smerz’s playful lyrical tendencies meeting some of the moody production elements and anti-pop aesthetics found in Tirzah’s trip9love. Elsewhere, though, the project drifts off into something else entirely.

“River Is A Street” might be the coolest blend of weird and catchy I’ve heard in a long time. She drops lines like: “Reinvent the wheel / Just to add some spokes” and “Some folks get born again / And others learn to breathe.” Maybe I hear a hint of LUCY (Cooper B. Handy) in this one, actually, so add him to the contextual mix I am trying to put together here. There is an ease seeping through this confident little tune, not unlike much of the release itself. It’s specific, strange, and hopeful in its own way. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.