Soft. Warm. Thought provoking. Melancholy. Perhaps it is cliche to start with descriptors and feelings. I feel it appropriate though. This album is filled with such capacity for feeling. It may only leave a person with these. Baier is an actress and artist. They actually wrote and recorded these songs in the 70's. They didn't surface until the recordings made it across the desk of a record exec in much more recent times. They lived most of their lives being a personal effect for their creator. It reminds me of how many people are making truly beautiful art. How many poems and verses sit on pages in a desk? How many songs and paintings rest quietly in the homes of their creators? These are lovely recordings that could have sat unheard. Instead, we have been given the gift of sharing in them.

These are quiet acoustic recordings with moving lyrics and spectacular feeling. Just a guitar and Baier's clear voice. They have an almost demo quality in their simplicity, but I don't think you should get mixed up. That is more the intimacy and feeling coming through. I love the intimate storytelling throughout the album but it starts at the top with "Tonight." Then on "The End" we get a glimpse into falling away. Complicated feelings abound here. The singing on "Softly" carries through my mind. "Remember The Day" is apparently one of the first songs Baier ever wrote. It has a moving musical phrasing and sentiment about doing your best. "William" is a jaunty little love song about a bad boy. "Driving" feels a little like looking out a window on a sunner country drive. Empty and peaceful but full of expression. The closing track comes with the addition of strings. "Give Me a Smile" sums up the feeling I get with this album. Overall the music is lovely. The vocals phenomenal. The guitar work genuinely perfect to each track.

Albums like this are inspiring and bring such joy to my heart. The way that it embraces intimacy, happiness, melancholy, and the gray feelings between can make you feel less alone. In some ways I mentally categorize this with Elliott Smith and Jackson C Frank. There is such understated feeling to the music. Yet it is a fast track to emotion and thought. It tells quiet stories. To me this is an absolute treasure. I won't say every track is a completely perfect item. But, they all feel welcome in the collection. Unified by the warm intimacy of the whole. It feels as appropriate on a summers eve as it does on a frigid winter day. I think it has a lot to say.