Vancouver

GEM ANDREWS / VANCOUVER A truly gorgeous second album from Liverpool-born Gem Andrews, this essay in altcountry has an honesty and rawness that cuts to the quick in a dark and melodious meditation on the forces pushing us from home, and then pulling us back again. With a new confidence, control and maturity, guided and produced by the Daintees' Martin Stephenson, Berlin-based Gem takes us with her on many journeys across countries, continents and oceans, seamlessly blending the shifting landscapes with the movements of her heart. Vancouver's poignant lyrics are wrapped in delicate harmonies and uplifted by a skillful and intuitive eight-piece band. The album is deeply rooted in altcountry, with Gem's fiercely independent voice carrying inflections of Patsy Cline, Lucinda Williams and Kate & Anna McGarrigle, in whose 'Heart Like a Wheel' Gem makes heartfelt homage and still renders something distinctively her own.