Poem 1

Back in 2019, Ana Roxanne released two albums of hushed, ASMR-tinged ambient in quick succession. But it was a patient downtempo cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” (by her duo with producer DJ Python as Natural Wonder Beauty Concept in 2023) that foregrounded their voice and hinted at where Roxanne might be headed next. And some six years after their last solo album, Poem 1 finds the Californian artist moving away from ambient towards something more like dream pop, that crystalline voice front and center. 

Naturally, Roxanne’s iteration of dream pop emphasizes that uncanny aspect of dreams where time moves much slower, where running happens at a crawl. “From sleep you have risen and walked through the meadow,” Roxanne intones on “One Shall Sleep,” with a cadence like a guided meditation. The nine songs of Poem 1 methodically unfurl, revealing new wrinkles in Roxanne’s sound, like the spare singer-songwriter piano underpinning “Keepsake,” the dreamy doo-wop of “Cover Me,” and the gentle beats that pulse like a resting heart rate on “Wishful (draft).”