Esbie Fonte’s Darkly Poetic, Urban Folktale “Time Traveler” is as Inviting as it is Foreboding

EsbieFonte1_sm — Esbie Fonte “Time Traveler” cover (cropped)

Esbie Fonte paces “Time Traveler” as though she’s walking down a corridor with images from the past several decades and giving a guided tour of where the human race has been and where it’s going. What gives it an unusual and interesting quality is how it is sometimes related from the first person like an autobiography related by someone who has been able to partake of that timeline in its tragically poetic, heartbreaking moments. Musically its somewhere in the realm of dark, lush folk in instrumentation and in free use of natural textures and rhythm. There is a vulnerable, even fragile, quality to the songwriting that is as inviting as it is foreboding. Fans of Marissa Nadler will appreciate the way Fonte’s mythical storytelling imbues it with a subconscious quality as though coming from a place of raw subjectivity. The vocals in being unconventional and quavering with the heft of emotion should resonate for those with an appreciation for Kimya Dawson’s idiosyncratic delivery of her own insightful poetry in song. Listen to “Time Traveler” on Soundcloud and follow Esbie Fonte at the links provided.