In Peter Weir’s 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock, a group of boarding school girls in Victorian-era Australia don white lace, twirl parasols, and craft elaborate valentines before some of them vanish behind a boulder on a searing summer day, never to be seen again. Charlie Hilton, best known as the vocalist for the woozy Portland-grown outfit Blouse, channels that same eerie, sun-drenched mystique on her second full-length LP, River of Valentines. The album reveals its emotional stakes in subtle gestures rather than full confessions.

From the first notes on River of Valentines, Hilton’s sound is smooth. The album flows like a river, its sonic valentines aloof yet twinkling. Hilton’s lo-fi ennui sometimes lulls but more often dances across a deep well of feeling, all within a concise 28 mi

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