“Let’s go for a walk / Don’t talk.” So begins Cosmos Forever, the gorgeous new album from Lea Thomas, born in Hawaii and currently based in New York’s Hudson Valley. While her previous full-length album, Mirrors to the Sun (2021), contained plenty of nods to power-pop and alt-country, this new is fully immersed in peaceful, ethereal, free-form folk stylings that are exemplified not only by that simple opening couplet but also the unhurried, gentle execution of the beautiful seven songs.
Featuring Thomas on vocals, guitars, and synthesizers and co-produced by drummer John Thayer, Cosmos Forever also features Nico Osborne and Jeremy Mendicino on guitars and Brendan Mulvihill on bass and synthesizers. The record was recorded at a house at the end of a mountain road in the woods, and if any album sounded like it was tracked far from an urban landscape, it’s this one. The peaceful nature of the surroundings certainly informed the style committed to tape. The opening track, “The Gift”, is a meditative, spacey ballad that features gentle acoustic guitars that are eventually joined by waves of synths, inviting the listener in like a warm embrace.
Cosmos Forever‘s simplicity is part of its charm and mood: listen to the circular acoustic guitar figure that runs through “We Must Be in Love”, a song that, like so much of the LP, sounds like it was created by musicians with no fixed deadline, and no real mission except to create an enveloping, intoxicating mood. The minor-key folk balladry of “Bauhinia” sees Lea Thomas and her band moving into woozy progressive territory, as the electric guitar figure that dominates the song’s coda sounds lovingly lifted from Pink Floyd‘s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”.
In the press release, Thomas explains that when recording the album, “We set up in the round, tracking live in a room where the windows overlooked the woods. I remember it was really quiet outside – no wind, and there were no leaves left on the trees to rustle anyway. Every sound we made felt amplified against the stillness of the season.” As a result, there is so much room to breathe on Cosmos Forever (a tremendously effective headphones record). One can feel the space between the notes when the arrangements are on the sparser side, such as on “A Thousand Leaves”, led by simple electric guitar figures and gentle droning synths.
“You Belong to No One” closes proceedings on a peaceful, contemplative note, reflecting on the end of a relationship with graceful acceptance, allowing Thomas to ruminate not only on the cosmos but all the small personal details of life that each of us must work through. She and her band are our guide towards peace and mindfulness. In lesser hands, Cosmos Forever may come off as a bit too navel-gazing, but with Lea Thomas and her gifted group at the helm, she has created nothing short of a sonic gem that one can easily get lost in.