On her debut album Lake Tear of the Clouds, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Cornelia Murr taps into the bucolic spirit of the Hudson Valley in upper New York State. Working with producer Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Murr conjures a hazy blend of folk and cosmic soul music, her voice floating over ghostly soundscapes that bring to mind the fantasias of Broadcast, Stereolab’s most pastoral moments, and the spooky romance of Beach House.

Murr was born in London and resides in California as a dual citizen, but spent much of her childhood moving through the United States, from Colorado to Massachusetts, California to New York City and upstate New York. It’s the latter locale that most informs the spiritual geography of the album, which invokes the cyclical journey of water from the highest point in the Adirondack Mountains to the valley below and out to sea. Like that water, Murr’s voice flows with a liquid grace.

Top Song