Last year, Johanna Warren shared her sixth album Lessons For Mutants. The nomadic singer-songwriter makes gut-wrenching ballads (her 2020 elegy “Twisted” is particularly painful) and she’s back with more. She is “(mostly)” retiring from the music business, and, to “throw a stylish funeral for herself,” she shared The Rockfield Sessions Vol. 1, an album of live recordings of old songs.

The musician is often complimented for her performances, so she decided to record highlights from her discography without edits or additional production. The Rockfield Sessions Vol. 1 was made over the course of two days at Rockfield Studios in rural Wales. In 1963, it was converted from an old pig farm into the world’s first residential recording studio, and Queen later recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody” there.

Warren says the goal was to “challenge myself to leave in all the little ‘mistakes’ that I would normally be inclined to ‘fix.’ I just wanted to document what I’ve been up to all these years, while I still remember how to play these songs, before turning the page and entering a new chapter of my life.”

The result is intimate and sprawling, especially on the mesmerizing “Lunar Landing.” It’s hard to imagine any errors; Warren’s execution is still pristine. Volume 2 is expected in early 2024. Stream Volume 1 below.