It’s shocking sometimes that so many new, great songs can come from only a voice and an acoustic guitar. Louisville songwriter Joan Shelley follows a long lineage of folk tradition. But she still makes “Wild Indifference” sound wholly personal and her own. With an effortless , hypnotic melody, she sings about the damaging effect detachment has on others.
“In your wild indifference / It’s all centered around you / Ain’t it lonely?” she sings, her voice weary but reaching out, an effort to break through another’s apathy. But Shelley also turns the examination inward, declaring “I’ve been a chaser too long.” It’s a beautiful, relatable song that bodes well for her upcoming self-titled album. That record, produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, drops on May 5.