Abigail Lapell @ The Grist Mill

Call it prairie noir or Canadiana desert rock: Abigail Lapell sings haunting, gorgeous modern folk songs. The Toronto songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has won two Canadian Folk Music Awards and reached over 20 million Spotify streams. Her evocative new album, Stolen Time, was released April 2022 on Outside Music. Produced by Howard Bilerman at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango, Stolen Time feels unhurried, psychedelic and otherworldly in the vein of Gillian Welch or Karen Dalton. A theme of recovery runs through the album, with songs about becoming sober, or a partner’s sudden illness, exploring the cycle of rehabilitation and relapse. The title comes from tempo rubato, a music term referring to the loose push and pull of expressive phrasing—a fitting metaphor for the shifting rhythm of uncertain times. An eclectic cast of musicians underscores the power of Lapell’s vocals on live-off-the-floor, 70s folk rock arrangements featuring bass, drums, horns, strings and steel. But many of Stolen Time’s standout tracks are solo guitar or piano songs, backed by little more than ghostly accordion or harmonica. The result is Lapell’s most ambitious and confident album to date.“A disc of pure, impalpable beauty, weightless notes and melodies that pierce our hearts…. And the young woman, prey to a vagueness in the soul that she sublimates in a handful of magical songs, to offer us a twilight album, somewhere between Gillian Welch and Laura Veir.” – Rolling Stone “Abigail writes songs that stop you right in your tracks.” — Brooklyn Vegan “Lapell mines traditional approaches while drawing discerningly from the contemporary folk, rock, and country playbooks.” — No Depression “Lapell’s latest is the new generation’s heart-rending answer to Tapestry’s call.” – Exclaim!