Juliana Daugherty Light Colored Vinyl Edition

It's hard to imagine that Juliana Daugherty's softness and subtlety could
materialize amid the tumult of current-day Charlottesville, VA, but every mode
of being continues in the people of Charlottesville, as it does elsewhere, despite
the impressions headlines might give. Despite the societal ills that dominate our
screens, private struggles still exist, and Daugherty's debut Light gives them
palatable, manageable, and satisfying form. "I wrote this record partly to strip
mental illness of its power," Daugherty says. She adds, "There is nothing useful or
beautiful to be gleaned from the experience of depression." Though this
statement seems contrary to the romantic tone of Light, it is refreshing to hear
an artist speak of their own depression with objectivity, unwilling to be charmed
by the gloom. Daugherty wields her songcraft like a sword, not a diary to be
buried in a drawer. As one listens, it becomes clear that Light was not a title
chosen despite the gravity of its subject matter-- romantic struggle, abject
depression, and throbbing vulnerability-- but rather in service of it. Light, so to
speak, comes when we give shape to what haunts us.