Sea Deep Sky High

On her impressive debut, Rebecca Pearcy plays hum-and-strummed music for late-night listening. On paper, the Olympia, WA-based performer might sound like any other singer/songwriter: acoustic guitar, lovelorn and forlorn songs, heart-on-sleeve confessions. Yet while Sea Deep Sky High may not initially seem to stray far from the too typical singer/songwriter formula, Pearcy ultimately succeeds and surpasses many of her peers by crafting songs so emotionally stark and engaging that they all but demand listeners' undivided attention. "You Go On," "Set to Bleed," and "Nights Like Tonight" are so achingly beautiful in their heartbreak that the whole album should be heard for those three tracks alone. Fortunately, nearly every one of the 11 songs on Sea Deep Sky High is worth such praise, and so with her first album Pearcy has established herself as a top-notch performer perfecting the singer/songwriter formula.