Pastures doesn't sound like the work of a Gen Z songwriter. Instead, its songs are poised and pastoral, filled with acoustic instruments — including the 1930s banjo she inherited from her grandfather — that evoke a landscape far more remote than Southern California. Some songwriters make music that reflects their surroundings, but Del Carmen takes a different path, turning herself into a musical world-builder. At just 24 years old, she's chased down an Americana sound of her own making. "I've heard stories about people growing up in small towns, wanting to move to a big city," she says. "That's not me. I love living in a city, but I also feel connected to a traditional sound. I crave both." It was recorded with Brunjo, the Tennessee-based musical collective whose members first crossed paths with Del Carmen while attending Berklee College of Music. Two years after graduation, the musicians reunited in a studio on the outskirts of Nashville, where they tracked Pastures over the course of eight days.
Wednesday 1/21: Natalie Del Carmen – Pastures
