Heather Maloney—Just Enough Sun
2018, Signature Sounds Recordings

Heather Maloney has been making albums since 2009, five of her own (including this one) and one collaboration with the band Darlingside. Just Enough Sun is an EP with five originals and a cover. Maloney’s expressive voice and engaging songwriting draws one in from the first track, “Let Me Stay,” exploring our relation to the places we’ve called home as they become places we visit (“I am a guest in every room I’ve ever known”). It is rich with details of her childhood room, “My brother’s old room used to be mine,/ he painted it blue when I left it behind.” Her strong melodic sense keeps these songs in your ear all day, recalling her stories of doomed space monkeys and delicate pansies that survive storms that topple oak trees. She covers “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” revealing its timely urgency even though it was released 55 years ago on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Heather Maloney is well worth checking out, and this EP is a good place to start. —Michael Devlin