Album Review: Black Brunswicker Channels Southern Haze on New Album Dreams of a Sunflower River

I absolutely love the purity of mornings in the city. The everyday noise is non-existent, and what surfaces are the lingering sounds of nature that our senses rarely pick up later in the day. The kind of sounds that coax our brain to fall into a state of pure focus and utmost bliss at the same time. If I ever want to enhance that feeling, or replicate it later when distractions are present at every corner, I tend to drift away listening to ambient, drone, and very minimal kind of electronic music. Today, I would like to spotlight with you an album that will engulf you in cathartic grace and balance, without trying too hard.

Meet US-raised, Manchester-based ambient folk artist Etta Helfrich (who releases music under the moniker Black Brunswicker) and her brand-new album, Dreams of a Sunflower River, released via our friends at Nettwerk.

The album (and its title) is an homage to The Sunflower River - one of the main tributaries of the Yazoo River in Etta's home state of Mississippi, and it reflects on the self-described "heat and haziness" of the southern US region. Recorded in 2019, Dreams of a Sunflower River does flow like a river. It feels cyclical, powerful, and it takes the shape of the object it passed through, which in this case is our mind. That's why I think this album can both elevate and bring down, depending on one's internal state of mind, and that's where its power truly lies.

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Maybe because I did some reading on Black Brunswicker and her Midwest upbringing, but if you listen carefully, especially in tracks like "Drowned in Sunlight", you might pick some post-rock/Midwest emo guitar influences in the distant background. Given the fact that she created it at the start of her career, this might be considered a an early semi-autobiographical walk through her upbringing that uses ambient folk, drone, Americana, blues, and Southern culture as a whole to convey the nuances of her adolescence and young adulthood.

If someone tells you instrumental music's storytelling isn't as powerful as vocal music, then send him this album. If used correctly, sound and titles are more than enough to share a message, story, and pay respects to those who influenced you. That's the story of the album's second track, "A Raga Called John", named after American fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey, whose influence means a great deal to Black Brunswicker. While a centerpiece in the composition (and the album as a whole), the guitar has a lot more ghostly presence in it. Something I realized as I heard the record in full for the very first time. It is there, but it is not really there, if this makes sense? Blended with field recordings, tape his, a decent amount of delay, and other techniques used in post-rock and drone, it beautifully blends in the overall mix without choking the rest of the sounds on the record.

Helfrich describes working with tape as a "living way of recording - more organic and alive than just recording digitally", creating a canvas of decay and disintegration on which to project a faint sense of haunted nostalgia. "Tape hiss from multitracking layers and textures has an almost spectral-like quality, which can evoke a response or a mood in somebody. And I think that that's really, really beautiful – it’s really nice to be able to impart a mood or feeling without necessarily saying something", she adds.

Vivid imagery seeps through every corner of Dreams of a Sunflower River, giving the record a soft, almost dreamlike glow. Just like a river. "I think my music is very much tied to the time and place where I'm at, both mentally and physically”, Etta shares, reflecting on the “tiny, weird, triangular-shaped” flat in the Evanston suburb of Chicago that doubled as the recording lair for these resurrected songs. Revisiting that space wasn't without its weight, Helfrich admits, but there’s a quiet kind of catharsis in rediscovering old emotions and letting them bloom into something new. I don't know her, but after listening to this and reading a few interviews with her, I feel I do, which makes the connection with the album even more special.

At this point, I hope you've indulged in the beauty of the record and are getting a sense of what it is, and it might sound strange, but my favourite place to listen to (so far) has been the gym. did my morning session while playing Dreams of a Sunflower River. While I subscribe to the notion that rage-fueled music helps push your limits, I ended up beating my deadlift PR. 115 kgs, not that anyone cares. Use this album wisely, and it will unlock a hidden potential in you, regardless of the setting. Its ability to mute the world and dial up all your senses (like Spiderman, you know) is uncanny.

Dreams of a Sunflower River feels like a plasticine gift. Shape it however you want—I promise, something will come out of it.