The multi-tonal songs on Heaven’s Mini Mart glow with playful folk music full of billowy movement.
On the closing track of Heaven’s Mini Mart, the debut EP from Troll Dolly (an experimental-folk project from drummer and improvisor Jen Yakamovich), Yakamovich sings of meeting a wisdomous woman named Deedee who gives her some advice: “‘Here’s what really happens when you find your heart is broke,’ she said. ‘You are not broken,’ she said. ‘You still make your art,’ she said. ‘You’ve been opened.’”
Have you seen that image of an unlit vending machine with a sign on it that says, “the light inside has broken but I still work”? It came to mind when listening to the final track of Heaven’s Mini Mart. Yakamovich is recalibrating and readjusting on her EP, but she is never broken. She zooms in on her past with curiosity and nurses wounds, but she also calms her overactive vagus nerve by jumping into a body of water (“Fishin’”) and describes finding some clarity on “Sauna Song.”
Playful folk music with billowy movement without the sickening fluorescent glow of most earthly mini marts is at your fingertips on Heaven’s Mini Mart. These multi-tonal songs incorporate guitars, percussion, synths, a vibraphone, and much more and make for a listening experience that’s almost as joyful as when you were a kid spending your allowance on penny candies. These are the sounds of somebody who has been opened.
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