Léna Bartels - The Brightest Silver Fish (2025) Hi-Res

Does being a solo artist these days mean that you have to stick to the quieter, gentler realms of music? Not if you are Portland transplanted to NYC artist Léna Bartels, as her second album The Brightest Silver Fish amply shows.

Bartels can surely go quiet here, but not without adding some shoegaze/ dream pop style guitar sounds, by herself and guitarist Izzy Oram Brown, throughout. And with a selected Brooklyn and Queens, NY crew that helps her create a full band sound she delivers some delightful cross of sounds drawn from a number of rock sources, adding some insightful lyrics to complete the sound picture.
You can rarely encounter an artist these days that can make such a balance between the music and lyrics and at the same time does not sacrifice the rock elements in their music, often going in a surprising direction with such ease. Definitely an artist that can bring some even more great stuff.