Every song on Anna Gordon’s Fern Canyon is masterfully composed layer by layer to offer an immersive experience for the listener. In a world full of talented people, the one thing that separates a musician from someone who plays music is heart, and Gordon found her heart buried deep within the earth. She pulled it out for the world to see — freshly covered in dirt and leaves — and, with each song, she uncovers it piece by piece, telling its stories of the time spent underground. She slowly cleans and washes it off with the salty waters of the oceans of tears that have flooded the forest floors of hearts yet to be found as she sings song after song into the ethers of this plane, calling upon the wandering souls who are still out there looking for their own salvation.
From Gordon’s angelic harmonies, which can be found in almost every song, and lyrics that burrow deep inside your skin like a fresh tattoo, to melodies that squeeze your insides so that you can feel your pulse pumping like crashing waves, in and out, rocking back and forth with the flow, each song is pure cathartic bliss.
We embark on our journey in the middle of the night with “Streetlights,” looking up into the stars above us. Lyrics like, “when the streetlight are out / I have no doubts” in conjunction with “speckled inky skies” and references to different constellations allow the listener to stand in the dark with total confidence and peace. We can imagine looking up to the heavens for guidance and getting lost in the moment while the glimmering lights penetrate our minds and whisper gently into our souls.
The song gives us a very gentle melody that rocks you back and forth with Gordon’s soothing voice, accompanied by minor, bright harmonies to really envelop and embrace you, bringing you into a state of comfort.
“A Labor of Love” starts out very bare with a descending four step guitar melody comprised of a simple three string picking pattern. After the first verse, a second layer of guitar is introduced — a high pitched, bright and pingy accent to the melody that fills in the gaps between the lower tones. The vocals come in shortly after and have a fuller and more encompassing timbre. Along with extra layers of strings and percussion, a shaker and a cello complete the sound right where Gordon sings, “I would give you everything you could need,” and, in that moment, it feels as though she already has.
In “Backseat,” we have no home. We have no money. We have no help. We have nothing but our car in which we sleep in every night. Every verse but one beings with “I woke up in the backseat” and strings us along the daily activities, worries, and struggles in our life. A somber melody moves us forward through lines of pain, lack of energy, and trying to put one foot in front of the other: “call all the people who I thought were my friends / no one answers.”
“Fern Canyon,” track six, is a nice melody played on the cello that serves as a break and palette cleanser for the next section of the album, which revisits some of Gordon’s songs that were released on previous EPs.
Sounds of the ocean and seagulls open up “Bury Me High,” introducing a sense of freedom. This track explores the desire to be cremated and spread across the planet instead of being buried. From the first verse, Gordon lifts us up very gently and take us on a heartfelt ride to mountainsides, beaches, oceans, and woods. This song brings a fresh and endearing perspective to the concept of death through a masterful blend of guitar, vocals, harmonies, and storytelling. A song littered with hooks, there is absolutely no way of getting out of it without singing or humming along while you keep it on repeat over and over and over again.
“Hallucinations” captures a dreamy sensation that definitely deserves its title. Gordon achieves this by using multiple layers of vocals that move in and out of each ear and vocalizations that drift all around the melody, seemingly entrancing and capturing the listener in a vocal net that could compare to a siren’s song in the ocean, lulling traveling seamen to their watery graves. A very addictive and satisfying song.
A song of unreciprocated love, “My Branches” is told through earthly metaphors of land explorations, hiking rolling hills, sailing uncharted water, and playing in tall grasses: “you never left a footprint or mark / save a set of initials / you left on my bark.” These touching lyrics that paint a masterpiece inside the listener’s mind, combined with a gentle melody that itself feels like being on a canoe that’s being pushed though small waves down a quiet river, create an immersive feeling of heartache and disappointment that grew out of a hopeful beginning.
*Knock Knock.* No, it’s not a joke; it’s the lover from “My Branches” who decided to come knocking on your door in “Please Refrain,” wanting to be taken back, starting the conversation with, “all I know is that I got no place to go / and I’m stuck out in the cold.” You can see the scene taking place on a cold winter evening underneath a dim, incandescent light. Gordon replies, “I don’t know, no I don’t know / if I should believe you / just ’cause you told me so.” We can put ourselves in Gordon’s shoes and shut the door in their face, locking the entry to the past, breathing in, and walking away with our head held high. This is a pivotal moment in everyone’s life, captured in a fingerpicked melody with just enough dissonance to keep us weary and on our guard.
And just like that, we make it to the last song, “Follow Me,” in which we turn into babies and Gordon rocks our cradle back and forth with a gentle, soothing, and uplifting melody that brings us comfort and peace. With her soft vocals whispering sweet words of love and support in our direction, we float away. We begin the song following Gordon and end it by finding ourselves right where we started, dirty and scratched up, but, she sings, “I walk through the dirt on the forest floor / and I do not fear my life anymore,” gently setting us down, blowing us a kiss, and waving goodbye.
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