Ora Cogan
Shadowland (Hidden City)

With five albums and over 10 years of touring experience under her belt, having shared stages with the likes of Grouper, Juliana Barwick, and Chelsea Wolfe, one would hope that Ora Cogan would be hitting her peak by now.

Fulfilling her promise, with the help of coproducer Trish Klein (the Be Good Tanyas) and a small selection of the city’s finest session players, including drummers Justin Devries and Zachary Treble, bassists Ryan Bekolay (Summering) and Caton Diab (Nam Shub), and keyboardist Tyson Naylor (Dan Mangan), the Vancouver singer-songwriter’s sixth album, Shadowland, does not disappoint.

Overlooking one or two rather forgettable moments, the album contains a satisfying breadth of mindfully arranged Americana instrumentals that perfectly suit Cogan’s soul-stirring vocals.

“End of Nowhere” and “Disinformation” have a simmering alt.country depression that one imagines the Jayhawks might embody for a David Lynch film.

The unsettling organ drone and circular acoustic-guitar tension of “Ground and Grave” evoke a feminine take on the cinematic folk-noir feel of Timber Timbre, while “Repatterning” could easily pass for a lost Wolfe track, circa Pain Is Beauty, were it not for the smoky Angel Olsen–like timbre of Cogan’s gripping voice.