California-based singer-songwriter Vanessa Lowe returns with her fifth album of original songs, “Stars of Bean Hollow”, which might signal a return to the intimate solo performances of her early career in New York and Denver. Or, it might not. Allow us to try to explain. After parting ways with her band, Bug Eyed Sprite, Lowe entered the studio to record a collection of songs that had been staples of her live show for several years, and longtime producer Kent Sparling seized the opportunity to refocus attention on Vanessa’s voice and distinctive rhythmic finger-picking on acoustic guitar. But as the sessions developed over several weeks, the arrangements matured and bloomed to include the subtle textures of reed organ, autoharp, violin, viola, slide whistle and Puerto Rican cuatro, alongside the electric guitar of Myles Boisen, Ben Freelove’s bass, and Sparling on his assortment of “tiny instruments” (ukulele, melodica, electronics), Rhodes piano, and for the first time, drums and percussion. The resulting record blends the “up close and personal” voice with lush and sometimes unexpected accompaniments, and unfolds like a smooth landing after the dense and exhilarating flights of her previous records, “57 Suspect Words” and “eep”. Ending up with a record that was markedly different than the one she intended to make is nothing new to Lowe, an artist who: has seen her only professional music video shelved half-way through production due to creative differences between the director and DP; composed the end-credit song to a feature film which, seven years later, is still awaiting distribution; landed a coveted spot with a national booking agency two months before they shuttered their doors, and despite being married to a film sound designer and mixer based at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound, having written songs in the Cow Barn on Francis Ford Coppola’s estate and lunching with Miranda July, has yet to reap the advertised benefits of nepotism, which should deliver her into the arms of her own superstardom. But still, the songs keep coming. And so Vanessa Lowe keeps performing and recording, releasing records for a small but growing audience of fans (many of whom are musicians themselves), who find the twists and turns of her musical journey fascinating and enjoyable. In finding words for the new record, she says, “The world of Bean Hollow embodies the experience of being simultaneously in the moment and outside, as though watching oneself from some future time. The jagged demons of the past have mostly receded, and what remains is delicate joy, the all-too-familiar wistfulness, and a bittersweet acceptance of the imperfectness of what is.” And so, for your consideration, we present her latest chapter: “Stars of Bean Hollow”.