The clear, keyed-in production makes for a uniformly serene listen but Williams’ performance is masterfully physical her strumming can sound like brushes on snare drums while her fingerpicking can echo like gentle taps across cymbals. In quieter songs like “Through the Woods” and “Dragonfly,” she finds melodies in repeated, hammered-on notes like cycles of birdsong. In “Swift Breeze.” Williams uses everything at her fingertips like a percussion instrument, from the harmonics high along the fretboard to her persistent knocking against the wood of the body. The most dazzling moments are often the most intricate. But part of the thrill of Urban Driftwood is how untethered Williams sounds to any tradition whatsoever: She has a gift for penning melodies that feel as catchy as pop songs, as in the lightly descending refrain of “Juvenescence,” but her approach to the instrument also allows her to confound expectations, making you question the source of each overtone and rhythm. Williams’ songwriting fits into an ongoing trend of instrumental music that more closely recalls the new age-leaning mood music of the Windham Hill label than the droning, pastoral fingerstyle approach of figureheads like John Fahey. Pensive and bittersweet, the mood can recall William Tyler’s sonic storytelling or Mary Lattimore’s serene harp experiments. She has described the album as an abstract diary of her year in 2020: Opening with the light optimism of “Sunshowers,” it darkens into knottier, more contemplative material over the course of 10 songs. It is more focused and fleshed out than its predecessor, with Williams complimenting her acoustic guitar playing with West African instruments like the kora and djembe. While Williams’ 2018 debut Unwind felt like a showcase for her versatility as a guitarist, her second album, Urban Driftwood, presents her more fully as a composer. It is this talent that allows her to, say, cover a Swae Lee and Post Malone song, and have it sound as natural and spellbinding as her own work. Her smooth and immersive playing belies the complexity below the surface. The 24-year-old is not only a skilled technician but also an instinctive songwriter, penning memorable compositions that, even at their most open-ended, proceed in a loose verse-chorus structure. But the power of her music is its immediacy. Williams’ inventive style, which has also involved wearing tap shoes and taking a cello bow to her instrument, has made her stand out in the field of solo guitarists.
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