You could make a fair argument that people have been making music like this – gently adorned singer-songwriter musical missives – throughout the history of contemporary music. Or at least since the sixties folk boom. But I would counter that by saying that it’s a classic form, and if you can bring something new to it, then why not. If it ain’t broke… and all that!
Isolation is the sound of an artist pushing that form through a 90s alternative prism; the heart of the songs may feel like the natural successors to solo troubadours (listen to Lost and tell me that it could, in its purest form, have fitted on any number of James Taylor or Jackson Browne albums) but it is the darker alternative inclusions, grunge infusions and college rock vibes that really move the album into its own territory.
And that said, it still feels like an album of the here-and-now rather than a patchwork pastiche of past glories. And that is the art of it. Learn from the past. Make music for the present. Keep your eyes fixed on the future. Perfect.
