Rio en Medio's Snowy Frontier Music

Danielle Stech-Homsy's debut disc as Rio en Medio, last year's The Bride of Dynamite, found her operating well within the realms of freak-folk. Released on Devendra Banhart's Gnomonsong label, the LP found collaborations with songsmith Jana Hunter, folk from Vetiver, and, in the closest musical kin Stech-Homsy has, the Casady siblings of CocoRosie. Matching Stech-Homsy's whispery voice —which was often compared to Vashti Bunyan's— to a solemn baritone ukulele, The Bride of Dynamite was a wondrous debut; a stirring set of sad songs and warped samples.

The recently-released second Rio en Medio album, Frontier, has found Stech-Homsy leaving Brooklyn behind for a country house in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. Made entirely in isolation, Frontier is filled with thick atmospheres, opaque lullabies, and disembodied voices, as if ghosts are trying to communicate through the snowy static of radio frequencies.

I recently asked a few questions of Stech-Homsy, seeking to find some enlightenment on the lady behind this mysterious, thus far underexposed artist.