Previously featured on Coastal Reverb, San Diego-based Filipino-American short story writer and musician Aly Rowell delivers a stunning debut album with Where It All Goes, a deeply personal collection of sweeping indie folk ballads. The title track immediately establishes a haunting, Laurel Canyon-esque atmosphere, as twangy acoustic guitars, stomping percussion, and Rowell's richly expressive, honeyed vocals gradually swell into a breathtaking crescendo of soaring backing harmonies. Elsewhere, Rowell traces her family history through the stripped-down, confessional intimacy of "Little Bean" and "Mother's Daughter," the former reflecting on her parents' relationship and the latter exploring her relationship with her mom and the complexities of motherhood.
Throughout Where It All Goes, Rowell drifts poignantly through one affecting ballad after another, with songs like "Extra Credit" and "Song of Sorrow" subtly ebbing and flowing with emotional intensity. "Life just rolls along in spite of what I want or will or should," she sings on the particularly moving "Bright Abyss," capturing the album's underlying sense of vulnerability and reflection. As Rowell herself describes it, the record explores "the women in my family, browness, generational trauma, and the healing that is possible as long as you're alive." Navigating self-doubt, longing, regret, hope, and familial bonds, Where It All Goes is a remarkably assured debut, balancing the intimate storytelling of Big Thief with the wistful arrangements of Weyes Blood. Go ahead and give the album a spin below!
