“I’ll crawl into the mountains, I’ll fall into obscurity/A phantom on the landscape, a memory of what used to be.” Nostalgia and longing—the voice and lyrics of Jason Lytle can’t be described without invoking these two sentiments.

Dept. of Disappearance, his latest album, is full of unknown ‘somewheres’ and ‘someones,’ finality and setting suns, disappearances and memories. The singer-songwriter earns his album title with emotive lyricism, and a sound that grasps at the listener.

The release begins with simple progressions and soft, yet assertive, breathy tones. While one could make the case that if you’ve heard the first song, you’ve heard the album, each one is arguably a distinct experience: Lytle’s strength is in his words and the sensations that they carry. Written, performed, recorded, and engineered by the artist, this album is distinctly his, and is rife with honest confessions and private musings that listeners feel fortunate to be privy to.

“Poetry set to music,” is perhaps a worn cliché to describe such eloquence, but remains an accurate one. Here is music to lie awake to; here are words to repeat in your head and mull over, images to linger upon. The ever-present undertones of nostalgia and longing instill a sense of incompleteness in the listener. Though strangely satisfying, there isn’t a single song here that will leave you without an anxious, aching, itching desire for more.