When singer/songwriter Julie Baenziger—a.k.a. Sea of Bees—opens her vocal cords to a soulful bleeding of emotion, it’s a wondrous mélange of naïve quiver and country-girl matter-of-factness. The follow-up to her impressive debut, Songs for the Ravens, Orangefarben finds the Northern California artist lamenting a romantic breakup with equal parts sadness and mustered bravado. It’s an emotional state well-suited to her lovely lilt; Baenziger’s smart lyrics and textural range are icing on the cake. On rallying spirit-lifters like “Girl” and “Broke,” her band races on slightly quickened pulses. In more somber moments, cellos exhale and steel guitars sigh, and a mellotron glows with a warm murmur. Baenziger conjures American gothic beauty out of heartache on tunes like “Take” and “More,” while her cover of John Denver’s “Leaving (On a Jet Plane)” is second only to the ‘60s hit by Peter, Paul & Mary. Orangefarben is a deep-reaching collection that gently taps into a well of emotions borne of loss and hope. It gets under your skin in a most beautiful way.