lo-fi, muck and jangle // garage and bedroom banished.
“It feels too easy to forget/the lie I settle on” Conceptually the album starts from a bizarre notion of songwriting: what if melody wasn t a crutch for generalities but instead an enhancement to storytelling populated with keen or amusing observations? A novel conceit among those who generally shovel their shit my way. And, it must Continue reading "TRACK Casual Technicians A Lifetime In The…
There s a kind of free-form fragility you expect to combust early doors but instead it thrives within the habitat of that gentle rumble and tonal canton. Sometimes the drums stagger, always finding their feet. The specimen of the feeling has been preserved in rare and unflawed form in that terrifying and hopeful manner only art Continue reading "TRACK Sam Hirst Little Thief"
The reflective and autobiographical narration regards the awareness of ones environs, the level of perceived and therefore perpetual threat therein, and who charitably installs this impression upon us. It moves gracefully outside the predictable; direct, nuanced, funny, and convincing ( sweat is bleeding down my cool neck/I am frightened by a tree ). The avid guitar hook Continue reading "TRACK…
The complexity and calculated elaborations of the instrumental play are worthy of admiration. The soundscape is finely tuned in a delicate cacophony. All that careful attention paid to the sampling is successfully populating the undergirding of the song s structure and acts to center some direct and cunning hooks, complementing and following the form. The richness Continue reading "TRACK King-Mob…
The simple bass synths ostinato and its gentle variations are accented with the occasional stagger and instrumental emphasis, everything complimenting expertly with concerted purpose. Whatever engenders that sense of falling or flight, its momentum is almost pure. And the engineering of it is a refreshing, relatively lo-fi marvel. It is rare to keep this sort Continue reading "TRACK Genuine…
The two singing synths harmonize throughout, interlocking, while field elements provide a patina of gritted texture without smothering the core, vouching for and reifying the verisimilitude of the direct narration. And truly the strength of the melody and tone lends credence to that emotional appeal. The texture is both chipped at and composed of the Continue reading "TRACK Sundozer Liquid Heaven"
But as well it should be. The ultimate hidden truth of the world, as Graeber wrote, is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently. It is again the care in the compiling that appeals to me most. There s a lot to admire in the accumulated decision making, investing Continue reading "TRACK No Lonesome Good Hurt"
Octave shifts and echo in the choral arrangements probably foremost, the tune s construction is extremely carefully designed. Silverstein s wailing, its range and melodic fervor, is simply gorgeous. The negative space employed and the phasing of discrete components throughout the soundscape is something to really appreciate in headphones. During the push into the final chorus the Continue reading…
What appeals to me most is the near constant elaborations and punctuations of choral noise, guitar, and synth which offer carefully designated counterweights to the warmth and steady haze. These attributes reify the song as place, concretize the foundations, populate the landscape with monuments and working ruins. trash is everywhere / dog shit on the Continue reading "TRACK jack petrone pavement"
When the primary melody finally releases its jaws the newly minted guitar synth hook cushions the transition into another form. That sequence kindly allows for a brief recuperation before proceeding into another mauling. There s a really fine assemblage of instrumental and vocal hooks then a bit of late-stage discordance on vocoder production that merges Continue reading "TRACK Cosme ♀/♂"