Tara Jane Oneil Is A Ways Away

You know me, I don't like the singer/songwriter/folk thing. I despise it. I can't stand noodling guitars and whiny no hope vocals. But, every now and again someone comes along and makes it interesting. Tara Jane Oneil is that person. The work of Tara Jane Oneil has always crossed genres and boundaries and it's this desire to do things differently that makes her ok to like. Her fifth album, and first for legendary K records A Ways Away is anything but your standard singer songwriter record.

A Ways Away is really more of an ambient folk record then anything that might be construed as a singer/songwriter sort of thing. Utilizing cascading waves of guitar distortion, minimal chords, and a haunting voice, Tara Jane Oneil creates a windswept landscape in which her songs roam. More atmospheric than acoustic, the songs Oneil writes will haunt your soul in a stirring almost chilling fashion. These are sparse songs that meander across the course of their duration and Oneil places her voice in the dead center of every one. It's almost as if she was a spirit without a home and she's found solace in haunting these songs.

A Ways Away is touching stuff that challenges what Tara Jane Oneil is labelled as. Is she a singer songwriter or an ambient artist? That's a tough one to answer and not necessarily one that needs to be. In any case, her songs are enthralling and barely there but they demand your attention and when it comes down to it, that's what is important. I'm not ashamed to say this, but I thoroughly enjoyed A Ways Away. The minimal and ethereal nature of Oneil's songs, make them fare too enchanting to dislike.