To Enjoy is the Only Thing

Album review

A tone of voice, words, and a dreamlike sound. When you're writing an introspective indie pop-folk song, getting these elements right will help you stand out from the crowd. Tori Zietsch, alias Maple Glider, has mastered them all, and so she has made it out in front of the pack. The Australian, who spent time in Brighton before returning home to Melbourne, can hold her own alongside Cat Power, Adrianne Lenker, Angel Olsen, Julia Jacklin and Sharon Van Etten. The subject matter she is working with might be classical and familiar (a strict, religious education, first love, an awakening to the ways of the world, solitude, distance) but To Enjoy Is the Only Thing offers a truly unique kind of intimacy. With a splash of humour here or a graceful confession there, she is always able to sidestep heavy-handedness or lukewarm cliché. But first and foremost, this record is a showcase for a sublime voice. On really stripped-down sequences, as on Be Mean, It's Kinder Than Crying, where her voice bounces off the same two repeating chords, Maple Glider is awe-inspiring. “To me”, she writes, “To Enjoy Is The Only Thing feels like walking past tinsel-covered trees in mid-September, swimming along the calanques in the south of France, frost on the hood of a car, darkness at 4pm, lightness until 10pm, a muted feeling, the perpetual grey fog that swallows the Silver Coast in Portugal, an ugly green dress, the color red, red wine, red blood, red lips, the red of a cardinal’s robe, Switzerland, my mother’s diaries, a coroner’s report, the sun on my face, the end of love”. One comes away from this album feeling deeply moved, blown away by these 35 timeless, graceful minutes... © Marc Zisman/Qobuz