Sylvie Simmons – Sylvie (LP, Light in the Attic)

Vinyl LP pressing. 2014 release, the haunting debut album by a singer/songwriter who has been making music since she was a little girl but just for herself. The raw, delicate, and sensual songs about love and love gone wrong are performed on a ukulele, which here sounds like a broken harp or a heartbroken guitar. Late last year, in a gap between tours, Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb lured Sylvie to the desert where they recorded live to tape in Wavelab Studio in Tucson, with Thoger Lund playing upright bass and Howe, who produced the album, backing her brilliantly on guitar, synthesizers, and piano.