Owls, Omens and Oracles by Valerie June
'Owls, Omens and Oracles' by Valerie June
The roots of plants, from the lowliest weeds to the mightiest redwoods, are wrigglingly alive, and roots music should be just as alive and growing as plants are. Valerie June understands this, and on her fourth studio album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, she continues to be a cultivator rather than a preservationist.
She’s obviously into organic cultivation: that voice of hers—childlike yet mature, jumpily pitched yet right-on emotionally, and always sensuously raspy—sounds so utterly human that even the most sycophantic AI enthusiast wouldn’t dare to try to duplicate it.
All her subjects are organic, too, with a particular tendency this time around to lean toward sunshine. “Endless Tree” moves between a Motown-slick desire for harmony and a Stax-steady rhythm to action; “Truth the Path” uplifts wistful wanderlust with small-group gospel; and “Sweet Things Just for You,” assisted by Norah Jones, adds a drop of concupiscent honey to folk blues.
The Owls producer, M. Ward, is as naturalistically inclined as June, and while he’s an accomplished Americana singer-songwriter, he limits his contributions to instrumental skills (mostly guitar) and an analog vibe that warmly folds around the whole album.
That vibe wrinkles and adjusts lovingly to June’s variety, including the undeniably funky “Joy, Joy!,” the prairie-sky drift and sadness of “My Life Is a Country Song,” and the dub style of reggae that DJ Cavem Moetavation brings to June’s musings, and one of her spoken-word poems, in “Superpower.”
Besides Moetavation, Jones, Ward, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (a presence both gentlemanly and holy on “Changed”), musicians like Conor Oberst favorite Nate Walcott, Tom Waits drummer Stephen Hodges, and Sonus Quartet cellist Vanessa Freebairn-Smith enhance rather than intrude.
As central creator, Valerie June exudes smart spirituality and mystical practicality. She is owl, omen, oracle and more, on songs with roots as deep as they need to be for growth and nourishment.
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