Walking with a Stranger

“I was told to leave this place behind,” Jessica Maros coos in her warm, sultry voice after a blazing trumpet heralds the album’s opener. The Nashville duo then take a languid journey through the Southwest, weaving spaghetti western whimsy and '70s country dust into their own dramatic indie rock. Mazzy Star's influence shines on psych-tinged "Heart Is Black" and the twangy "Leaving Brooklyn," while desert-rock licks sizzle across "Idiot." By the LP's end, that horn is still blowing and Escondido are still running—harmonizing their way to "a place where everything will be alright."