Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful [LP]

Flo Morrissey is a child of the freak folk revival, raised on Vashti Bunyan reissues and new albums by Devendra Banhart. Her 2015 debut Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful, released when the singer/songwriter was just shy of her 21st birthday, carries elements of both eras -- the hazy trip of the original '60s hippies along with the exacting re-creation of said time -- and there's ever the slightest suggestion that the album was recorded in the wake of Lana Del Rey's dreamy, glam-gothic sway. No matter how she sighs as she croons, Morrissey doesn't truck in the fetishization of darkness: she bathes in the light, too young to harbor regrets and too conscious of tradition to break from them. If she relies on that carefully tailored vibe instead of songs, it's not necessarily a bad trade: her earnestness is nearly as appealing as her prettiness, a quality apparent in both her voice and her surroundings. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine