The mysteriously named Angelsightings is an appropriate choice of alias for twenty-one-year-old Nina Luther. Hailing from Tampa, Florida, and based in Phoenix, Arizona; Luther is a songwriter with a talent for delicate, ellusive, and fragmented songs that are modest in appearance, but conceal a confidence and maturity beyond her years. Taking inspiration from artists such as Kate Bush, Grimes, Lucy Dacus, and Florence Welch, the four tracks that make up her debut EP, Captivity, are an interesting mix of skeletal guitar, glacial synths, ghostly piano and understated vocals. Glueing everything together are Luther’s lyrics – which seem to fall and settle on the songs like scattered and fragmented diary entries.

Jasmine Rose (Humility) is a bewitching introduction to her talents, built on a simple acoustic guitar arpeggio and punctuated by icy synth notes and washes of distant piano. Luther’s sweet vocal sounds relaxed and detached, coming at you through what sounds like an iPhone recording. It’s very intimate and by the time it abruptly ends, you’re left feeling as though you’ve been listening in on something you shouldn’t have.

The short instrumental Exit Music follows, atmospheric with discordant chimes pulling against warm piano. It’s an effective track that serves to both erase the sweetness of what’s come before as well as to introduce Sushi Song – the longest and structurally most surprising track on the EP. Again the lyrics are a highlight – appearing to document a breakup through a series of snapshot images – and feature some very interesting turns of phrase, such as “I germinate like a weed sprouting in-between your sheets” and “I move like a caterpillar through all five stages”. The fluctuations in tempo and warmth of the buzzing frets only makes the sentiment hit harder.

The final track on the EP, Prelude, is simply gorgeous. At just one minute and twenty-two seconds long it’s also the shortest and sparsest. As with the rest of the material on Captivity, there’s a real vulnerability on show, and a lyric that feels like catharsis. The song opens with the lines “Never second guessed ’til I was used / Held my body like it belonged to the sky” and concludes with “You remind me that the value comes with the land”. There’s a very poetic quality to Luther’s words and delivery that really resonates, and I like that these songs almost float in and out of consciousness. There is meaning here – for artist and listener – but what that meaning is, is up to you to find.

All in all, Captivity is a really promising release. At twenty-one, Angelsightings might not yet be the finished article, but the range of ideas and potential across these four tracks mark her out as somebody to keep an eye on.

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* This release was discovered via Musosoup. A small fee was paid in exchange for publication. See ‘About / Contact’ page for more details.