Jenn Wasner launched Flock of Dimes as a solo project in 2011, seeking to explore the more atmospheric and experimental side of songwriting and recording outside the success of beloved folk indie-rockers Wye Oak.
But her remarkable new album, the third under the alias, strips back the production to minimal synths and electric guitars, focusing on the most direct songs of her career. Its 12 haunting tracks delve the depths of addiction and co-dependency, inherited and experienced trauma, and the process of finding peace in the face of others’ suffering.
Her emotions laid bare, Wasner’s extraordinary vocals are placed front and centre. Sometimes she sounds optimistic, the songs serving as a mantra. Elsewhere, she sounds broken. It’s a profound, deliberate choice to leave the humanity in.
Wasner’s distinctive, angular electric guitar is heard only in a couple of places, while Meg Duffy contributes searing sustainer guitar on The Enemy.
Instead, these deeply melodic songs are underpinned by acoustic guitars with her trusted band providing beautifully understated backing. Gentle harmonies, violin, pedal and lap steel all provide colour and emotion, notably on the standout single Long After Midnight, where the transition to a pedal steel solo adds a further level of heartbreak.
Opening to the ambient sound of children’s voices, Wasner sets the tone for the album on Afraid: “I did not enter this world afraid, and I refuse to leave it this way." On Theo, the most overtly country song, she sings: “I can’t carry you and still carry on.”
This theme of trying to see herself not as some kind of saviour figure, but just another flawed human doing her best is further explored on Defeat and the startlingly raw closing track I Think I’m God (I Know I’m Not), against a simple backing of acoustic guitar and cello. ‘The Life You Save’ is quietly devastating, yet rarely without hope.
Flock of Dimes Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu November 06 2025 - PHILADELPHIA Pennsylvania - Johnny Brendas (USA)
Fri November 07 2025 - HAMDEN Connecticut - Space Ballroom (USA)
Sun November 09 2025 - SOMERVILLE Massachusetts - Rockwell - MA (USA)
Tue November 11 2025 - WASHINGTON District of Columbia - Atlantis (USA)
Mon December 01 2025 - SEATTLE Washington - Barboza (USA)
Tue December 02 2025 - PORTLAND Oregon - Mississippi Studios (USA)
Thu December 04 2025 - SAN FRANCISCO California - Rickshaw Stop (USA)
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