Reflecting on Margaret Glaspy's 'The Sun Doesn't Think'

When you've been anointed a "next big thing" by gilded outlets such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, there's a danger of being typecast. With an ethereal voice and guitar chops for days, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy is already wearing a cape as the Next Great Indie-Rock Hero. Observe Glaspy's irresistible charm and effortless sense of cool in the video for "Act Natural," the first single from her acclaimed 2023 LP, Echo the Diamond. All fuzzy guitars and indie-rock stomp, the song shows Glaspy at the intersection of riot grrrl and ingénue as she takes turns sipping coffee and riffing on her guitar in a kitchen, amplifier perched on the counter. The power-trio sound of Echo the Diamond followed her more pop-leaning, synth-heavy 2020 LP, Devotion. But on her new EP, The Sun Doesn't Think, Glaspy takes a whole different approach, which she'll bring to Brattleboro for a performance at the Stone Church on Friday, May 10. On a recent phone call from her home, she recalled how, as she toured with her band, rocking out every night with her beloved electric guitars, she found herself turning to her acoustic guitar after the shows. "When you're touring, you're repeating yourself a lot, musically," Glaspy said. To keep her mind creating, she found herself writing folk songs in hotel rooms. On Echo, she had "covered the songs in electric guitar," as she put it, but she quickly realized she wanted to do something different with this sparse music, capturing its immediacy. "It's the difference between photography and sculpture," she said. "There are musicians who are so incredibly talented at meticulously sculpting a record. But I like to take a photo — I've time-stamped my life very freshly with this EP." The Sun Doesn't Think is a five-song collection of hushed, intimate ballads that feature only Glaspy and her acoustic. With everything else stripped away, the Northern California-born singer-songwriter stares straight into the camera and delivers one hell of a confessional. The moment "24/7" kicks off the record, the listener is transported to Glaspy's living room, staring across a coffee table as she strums her guitar. "I just want you to feel all right / I'm not even on my own side / I'll be the sacrifice / Go ahead, serve me on rice," she sings. "Or do you think that I'm trying too hard? / You've known me since I…