JACOB BLICKENSTAFF
With her Tennessee twang and infectious laugh, Valerie June could charm the dew off a honeysuckle. It’s difficult not to smile and laugh along with her, even as she’s discussing celestial realms and conversations with spirits.
June has always been interested in the esoteric and the transcendent, but it wasn’t until writing the song “Astral Plane,” from her latest album The Order of Time, that she found a way to fully express these thoughts in her lyrics. It’s a quiet meditation on hopes, dreams, and interstellar traveling delicately sung over a lush, cosmic folk arrangement. “Dancing on the astral plane/In holy water cleansing rain,” June sings. “Floating through the stratosphere/Blind, but yet you see so clear.”