Loaded with the kind of liquid chord changes that make all distractions turn to dust, Portland based artist Les Ailes (Rylie DeGarmo) creates subtle jazz-infused folk soundscapes in which less is always more, and where every melodic twist and turn hits with devastating clarity.
Seattle born DeGarmo began her recording career working with her musician father to create 2015 EP The Rue. Traversing the southern United States throughout her twenties, she would eventually settle in Oregon and record the 2021 full length Les Ailes debut Tennessee along with a number of follow up EPs, before heading to a small studio in Northern Ireland to record this latest collection, How To Greet A Praying Mantis.
Bathed in a warmly nostalgic glow, the irresistible melodic shifts of Comedown are an obvious highlight on initial listens, but repeated plays reap even deeper rewards across the EPs five tracks. A gently cathartic sigh from start to finish, the sheer beauty and rare power of Mantis’ stark arrangements and spellbinding vocals pull us slowly but inevitably into Les Ailes’ orbit.
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