Home Constellation Study by Asher White

Autumn colors set hills and hollows aflame, rejoicing in one final ode to life before the frigid months of winter. Similarly, the endlessly charming baroque pop of Asher White on her new album Home Constellation Study romanticises American decay, painting still lifes of accidental beauty uncovered in the blind, pointless march towards oblivion. On a personal level as well, White’s lyrics betray a rootlessness and unsteadiness that gets projected outward onto society, all of which gets imprinted onto the music through flowing, kinetic songwriting. Though White chooses to focus on warm glimpses of beauty along this meandering journey – old mill towns from a train window, abandoned family farms on the plains, frivolous yet passionate young love – darkness still encroaches on the imagery through thoughtfully placed moments of fuzzy digital noise and bold free jazz. Soon, for White and for all the colorful characters of her stories, October breezes will downshift into December chills, confining these snapshots to melancholy memory until the bleak winter passes once more.