Seven years have passed since Oldham-born, Nashville-based Karen Elson released debut album The Ghost Who Walks, a work that was notable less for its solid collection of murder ballads and blues jams than the person who produced it: the model and singer-songwriter’s then-husband Jack White. In the time since, the pair have undergone a not terribly amicable separation (though are reportedly now friends), and Elson’s musical tastes seem to have drifted away from White’s bluesy leanings and towards something more luscious and Laurel Canyon-esque.
Double Roses is produced by long-time Father John Misty collaborator Jonathan Wilson, and features the sort of orchestral flourishes present in Misty’s own work. (Misty himself appears on the album, along with Laura Marling and – rather contentiously given his band’s acrimonious history with White – Pat Carney of the Black Keys.) As with her previous album, it’s tidy and tasteful rather than gripping, with the exception of the wonderfully beguiling title track, a swirl of arpeggiated harps and hushed melodies.
