Listen: Johanna Warren’s “Witchsickness”

Johanna Warren, who dishes out polished folky stunners in the tradition of Billie Marten and The Staves, was last heard in the complex, unwinding Gemini II early the previous year, and now — after a lengthy absence — we're hearing what appears to be fresh material from the Portland-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Titled Witchsickness, the haunting melody opens with a wailing sound that paves the way for some skillful fingerpicking on a beautifully resonant acoustic guitar, forming the bedrock for Warren's emotive vocals to shine through ("It's a lot of light to try to bear on your own/ And there's a lot of sleepless nights you just stay awake shaking all alone/ But all my supernatural symptoms seem to fade away/ The second I remember I am the God to which I pray," goes the lyric). Listen to the quitely powerful piece below, alongside Black Moss and Let Me Stay -