Itasca

From the first moment that Itasca’s Imitation of War rolls through the speakers the shift in tone becomes apparent. The darkness roiling through “Milk” snakes around the listener as the breezes of 2019’s Spring fade in the distance. Aptly, the themes in Imitation of War take on a darker tone as well. Playing with notions of faith, myth, legend, art and artifice, the album explores cultural mythologies as much as self-made myths. Our perceived notions of who we are and what we display as our public personas have more than ever become a construct, a necessity to the enduring role of ‘artist’ in the modern context. A hidden life is no longer livable. We demand that the artist become muse and minstrel all at once. The album’s title nods to adopting war postures, a similar human habit that sometimes lets the individual become the ideal. Much in the same way, Cohen inhabits her artistry and even if she sometimes feels like her distractions grapple with her own gravity, the record is imbued with the assuredness to con us all.

The album’s sound is thickened not only by Kayla’s confidence but by a cadre of friends and confidants that help to bring it to life. Robbie Cody (Wand) helped to create a comfortable environment to record the album, co-producing and bringing along fellow Wand members Evan Backer and Evan Burrows to the studio as backing band along with Kayla’s Gun Outfit bandmate Daniel Swire. Alongside her friends, Cohen’s playing has coalesced on this album, embracing her darkness and shining a light through it in bejeweled tones. The album’s songs all work towards tracing high water marks for Cohen, but the album’s centerpiece, the 9+ minute folk epic “Easy Spirit” feels like a defining moment for her, running a Fairport meets Chapman folk fumes through a Cosmic American filter, letting the mid-section rise to the skies in curls of strangely perfumed smoke. With each album, Itasca has become more defined and on Imitations of War, despite her hints at put-ons and play acting, this album feels like Cohen finally finding herself.

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