Fire Escape

After a string of singles and an EP, Imaginary Future—a.k.a. Jesse Epstein—proves he’s capable of building a memorable album’s worth of his delicate and distinctly ephemeral songs. Serving up the kind of intimate, indie-folk flavored music that Fleet Foxes fertilized the indie pop world with a few years ago, Fire Escape’s airy romanticism feels especially genuine considering Epstein’s vocal partner is his high school sweetheart and now wife, singer/songwriter Kina Grannis. Imaginary Future works with a simple palette of acoustic guitars, minimal piano, and muted washes of cymbals and tympani, with his—and Grannis’—vocals acting as a key element. The languid melodies and lyrical grace of Epstein’s compositions are surprisingly adroit; they soar stealthily to heart-fluttering high points and spiral downward in sad freefalls; they burrow effortlessly in the memory as sweet, sing-along moments of triumph and hope. Fire Escape is a beautiful and inarguably romantic record, one that was criminally underrated upon release. It’s never too late to tell a friend.