Cranes "Forever" (1993)

 

Arriving at their sophomore album, Cranes show signs of maturing songwriting. The blunter lunges into shadows are scarce as brighter acoustic guitars and friendlier distortion riffs take focus on a warmer, yet curiously limbo like outing. I'm noticing a pattern in how songs come in degrees of arrangement. Its most notable when percussion is entirely absent, as it where on a few songs off Wings Of Joy. Their ability to brood on simple, repetitious melodies and stay engaging is remarkable.

And Ever makes a mark as its lone, moody piano ushers in a two hand chord melody to dance with Alison Shaw's distant Ethereal voice. The music swells upon the arrival of a singular, lone and soft string synth. Reverberated acoustic guitar notes then pluck away in compliment with a brisk ascendancy. Another drum less track Cloudless has a touch of Medieval melody to it, as did Watersong. Just a minor musical note.

Adrift and Clear peer towards shadows, bot quite intensely as before, with upheavals of brooding distortion guitars soaked in echo. The later creates quite the maddening atmosphere with its bendy alarm siren droning in the backdrop, creating tension. The lead guitar riffs is quite a devious lick yet so simple as much of the components are like the flat bass line. Their ability to grasp so much power and feeling from the simple connections between each instrument is everything that makes these songs great.

The Dream Pop label still alludes me. There is little at play that reflects the quirk and upbeat nature of Pop music of the 90s. Not as dark, limbo is the word that comes to mind with Alison Shaw still playing innocence off the more sinister soundscapes of her band mates. Through her the dreaminess is all there though. Heavy use of reverb gives the mix a cold spacious feeling throughout and with a lavish of echo her singing ices the cake with an Ethereal quality. Forever is a fine endeavor but generally feels like a lighter exploration of the same musical ideas presented beforehand.

Rating: 6/10

Cocteau Twins "Heaven Or Las Vegas" (1990)

After a discovery hiatus and with a new year ushered in, I felt it was time to return to the Cocteau Twins. This next destination being the one other record of theirs I knew alongside Treasure. Heaven Or Las Vegas is the trio's commercial peak and a record of notoriety among "albums to hear before you die" lists and whatnot. Rearranging the various aspects of their sound, the group hit a stride and roll with it through ten fantastic songs that revel in the Dream Pop realm they helped to pioneer.

Opening with Cherry-Coloured Funk, the temperament and pace is swiftly set as each song moves with this steady shuffling drive, as lavish, pedal effect drenched guitars drone in a wash of color and delays. Its the defining aesthetic of each track which hinges on simple, straightforward song structures. Each one plays out presenting its main idea and upfront with a few variations woven in. With Guthrie on a stride its a fine curation of ideas, resonating well with his fellow musicians who put icing on top.

Fraser pivots from her wordless performance style to sung lyrics which arrive with a magical cadence and distorting accent to throw one of the scent on occasions. The way she lays emphasis and elongates notes is charming yet often out of step with expectations, giving her words a cryptic dimension. Behind them, on every song, Simon Raymonde pumps away simple yet warm and cushioning bass lines, with an occasional tough of groove but mostly very simplistic and straightforward playing.

 

Brief moments of electronic synths can be heard too, often woven into the drum machine arrangements. They can sound bare and stiff on some tracks, bearing its mechanical nature with claps and snaps. Counter too that, it sounds completely organic on a handful of songs too. All in all its a beautiful aesthetic arrangement of Ethereal colors dazzling in the wash of dreamy guitars and singing that finds its charm swiftly and keeps you with them for the duration of the record without a blemish, bar a couple of drearier songs, however they bring their own rainy day magic too.

Rating: 8/10

Cranes "Wings Of Joy" (1991)

 

For the past ten days or so I've stewed over this one with repetitious intent. Songs like Thursday, Sixth Of May & Adoration anchor its slumped, dreary atmosphere in a deceptively subdued yet morbid setting. They sway in a mesh of mesmerizing tracks as musical frictions arise. Surges of jolting, broody piano chords, stabbed with solemn pains. Gritty frazzled guitars deliver drives of dissonance. Patrolling, devious base lines stalk with a shivering intent. In the degrees its various components meld at, all are driven by a cold mechanical tempo, dragging the music forth like a death march.

My curiosity in this drab journey was fueled by a lack of perception. As a band dropped into my collection for discovery later on, I initially found them on Shoegazing and Dream Pop lists. Too my ears there is little of that here. Wings Of Joy is far more akin to the burdensome biblical sins of Children Of God in its darker alleys. That's only partial because there is uplift in sight as Alison Shaw sings with a childish innocence of soft tonality and fragile wordless inflections. Her tone reminds me of Grimes yet feels so very different in the pale darkly context. She is much like an innocent lost soul endlessly drifting, trapped in a world of horrors and demons they are blind too.

The production is also of merit too. Its spacious design keep the often stiff and repetitious instruments an eerie space to brood within. The guitars often swell up from underneath, leaving the dull marches festering with texture. It seems to be the common trick. Its initial simplicity seems cold and lifeless yet as the songs drone on, this curious enchanting atmosphere arises to engross the listener. And that's what it achieves from start to end without a weak spot. Wings Of Joy has something distinct to offer and revels in the space crafted for it, by the English band who are named after the visibility of many cranes present in the dockyards of London, their home.

Rating: 7/10

Poppy "Flux" (2021)

 

Not one to stick with a sound for long, Poppy moves on from the eclectic aesthetic extremities of I Disagree and metallic framework, now plunging deep into the 90s with a wash of warm hearted Grunge, Pop Punk, Alternative Rock & Dream Pop! This nostalgic lens that quite a few bands lean on these days serves up a huge advantage in terms of variety. Flux capitalizes on this fortunate position, sounding like its from an era but not being cast to one mold as many of its inspirations would have been.

The tracks Hysteria and As Strange As It Seems highlight this perfectly. Both resurrect dreamy Shoegazing guitar tones and the hazy production tricks of My Bloody Valentine's acclaimed Loveless without burdening the listener through a whole album of its dreary ambling nature. All songs have their shade of influences, in different degrees, from a moody Her too the amped up head banger Lessen The Damage.

The variety is where the magic is at. Originality not a concern as her usual collaborators and album producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen provide some amazingly written songs and gorgeous guitar tones in many flavors to flesh out the record wonderfully around her voice. The track arrangement is smooth too, shifting in temperament and intensity to keep things exciting and brief at only thirty two minutes.

I'm not sure that Poppy herself holds much of the dazzle. Her performances don't seem all too defining. The instrumentals make the songs more so than her singing. Her softer range is endearing but when reaching for more energy she lacks a strong character as the nostalgic lens has her singing in the shadow of anothers style. Themes and lyrics are locked in well, hooks and timings ripe but its missing a shine.

 Flux has been fun and refreshing, a spirited journey back into the 90s. With a broader sense of ideas to draw on it excels without doing anything remarkable or unexpected. Being keen on this era it was all to easy to get sucked but after many spins it firmly resides in that space where I'm not sure if these numbers will stick. So for now the record goes into shuffle, awaiting to see if its resurrection will be rewarding.

Rating: 7/10

Autumn's Grey Solace "XIII" (2021)

 

Autumn's Grey Solace hold a dear place in my heart as my first and favorite introduction to a deeply Ethereal shade of Dream Pop music, a sound started and seasoned by the Cocteau Twins. The first half of this duos discography was a delight to unearth, their luscious dark incarnations of shadowy beauty still resonates fondly to this day. The second stint, starting with Monajjfyllen, began a circling of waters, the continuous re-arrangement of musical ideas established long beforehand and thus each record, despite being enjoyable, comes with a sense of disappointment as the pair stick very strictly to their template, lacking experimentation or direction.

XIII, in-coincidentally their thirteenth, continues this tradition. My keenest remarks emerge from an occasional arrangements of acoustic guitars that shimmer off the warm baselines punctuating beneath. In all fairness this is simply two songs that strike a particular nerve, otherwise the songs drone forth with a similar subdued melancholy, lost and lonely yet in reverence of beauty. Candledim perks the ears with a fuzzy lead guitar lending a few harmonizing notes for the closest thing to a guitar solo we will get. It gives the song a little extra charm the other numbers don't receive yet could do with.

Welton's dreamy voice is a treasure as always, drifting over the washy reverb soaked instrumentation of Ferrell. She brings a lyric oriented performance this outing, a shift from the pure voicing heard on much of their recent output. Sadly it does little to offer any freshness. With my lyrical track record that wouldn't mean much but all in all it is business as usual. I will continue to check this two out no matter what and every time I will wish for a change of pace but sadly this time It was not so!

Rating: 5/10

Cocteau Twins "Blue Bell Knoll" (1988)

 

Arriving at our 13th installment in the Cocteau Twins journey, fatigue comes to mind with a full length record that is both pleasant and joyous as it is consistent and routine. The sparkle is either missing from the record or myself. Put simply, Blue Bell Knoll failed to rope me with a lack of surprise within the musical idea portrayed. It is however a spirited pivot away from the Ethereal and dark that often lures me in. The majority of its ten tracks focus on bright, appeasing melodies that twinkle between the cracks in their hazy aesthetics. Simple song design and easily indulged moods make it a rather inviting record despite not feeling much deeper than its surface.

Two of its songs do hint an electronic element but alone with this duo, the experiment is brief. The title and opening track beefs up its bongo led percussive track with a synth tone to give of some subtle difference. It emerges boldly again on A Kissed Out Red Floatboat with an unmistakable likeness to Kraftwerk's The Man Machine main melody. The busying notes of osculating wave synth bustle their way through the song like a happy accident. Not adding anything in particular to the song but just coincidentally matching the musics key and peaking audibility when the other instruments quiet.

I could describe once again the details of these band mates contributions but I would be recycling my words. Its as one would expect from the trio with Fraiser finding her most quiet yet fitting performance. She dances through these songs effortlessly yet her presence doesn't have the punch her tricky annunciations on Treasure would. All in all its a reasonable effort but lacking a spark to distinguish itself in the shadow of their great works of musical art that came before.

Rating: 6/10

Cocteau Twins "Love's Easy Tears" (1986)

 

And so the Cocteau Twins musical journey continues on with what will be the last of these brief EPs, for a few years at least. Its been a consistent drip feed of mediocrity with the occasional spark of magic and Love's Easy Tears is no exception. Hot off the back of an experimental Victorialand, the band slip back into a groove as a trio again. The ever present drum machine and a persistently muddy bass presences rears the band into a familiar space. The title track and Sigh's Smell Of Farewell hit the similar trend of lacking chemistry between Fraiser and Guthrie, however it should be said the rhythm section brings little beyond bare bones to bolster their performances.

Those Eyes, That Mouth perks the ears with the two finding an esoteric spark to lure us into a mysterious Ethereal tension that never finds a release its yearning for but ventures through its darkly atmosphere finding a rising tide as intensities swell into the closing phase. Orange Appled sounds remarkably different from the other three. Fraiser's singing is in a deeper range and her wordings more pronounced and upfront yet still ambiguous. Its hooky bell melody come on strong but the tune doesn't quite land for my ears. All in all its another collection of B-Sides, fun to dive into but pales in comparison to their album material.

Rating: 4/10

Cocteau Twins "Victorialand" (1986)

 Having recently split a subpar album into two EPs in the previous year, the Cocteau Twins return with a full release that on paper you'd suspect would be more likely to suffer that fate. With bassist Raymonde tied up with other commitments, Victorialand strips out percussion and bass in a bold, experimental move that actually turns up gold. Initially it stands apart for lacking what is seemingly a core part of the groups music and ironically the focus on guitar and vocal alone forge a beautiful chemistry between the two, something their recent string of EPs seemed to lack all too often.

Guthrie refines a sound heard before, often intermittent between his echo delay experimentation with ambiguous guitar texture. With a touch of roomy reverberation his focus lands on lush, bold acoustic guitar chords and plucked strings. Dreamy, bright and glossy they flow lavish and oozy as the melodies vibrate and resonate in soft feedback loops. Although a little hazy and foggy they dance in the Ethereal wash, swaying with a timeless dreaminess the band yield, somehow unlike anything before.

Fraser finds a stride heard many times before with the best of her spirited singing. She leans in on the unusual pronouncing and annunciations that put emphasis and feeling in the unconventional spots. She meanders around the guitars like a wandering spirit, rising and falling, exploring her range and depth of expression. Her pace is drawn out, lingering on scenic notes, voicing with a ghostly intent. The use of pre-echo and other manipulations artfully expand the avenue this duo carved for themselves.

Chemistry is often king and here it reigns supreme as the focus on two instruments have them finding the sublime connections on its best tracks. All sorts of fantastical places of adventure and intrigue are conjured in the imagination when they find a stride. A Saxaphone and Tabla can be heard chiming in on occasion and one or two song use a tiny sway of percussion and sometimes bass. Its so subtle it seems almost necessary yet irrelevant in the shadow of absence the majority of the music carries.

A bonus track, remixed by Massive Attack, serves to show how well the music can stand on its own while being completely open to percussion and bass. Final song, The Thinner The Air, is a tense, winding closer that dissipates at the albums end. The accompaniment of Trip Hop thuds, cracks and piano chords add in a foundation entirely optional. It highlights how much magic is birthed in this chemistry and how the common and expected are sometimes unnecessary to what makes the music tick. Victorialand has its moments and some songs may not click so sweetly but it is a change in pace worthy of attention!

 

Rating: 7/10

Cocteau Twins "Echoes In A Shallow Bay" (1985)

 
Echoes In A Shallow Bay is the second half of what could of been a fourth album for the Scottish trio. Tiny Dynamite has the favorable pick of songs, with three of these four tracks offering subdued darkly obscurities that indulge but don't shine. Its a familiar take on their Ethereal sound with the opening Great Spangled Fritillary lingering on dense, elongated guitar noise that shivers through the cold, spacious setting, a tone somewhat adjacent to much of whats heard on Lycia's classic Cold.

The following Melonella and Pale Clouded White usher in stiff chord cycling pianos that get enveloped when swells of guitar noise arise. The moods are gloomy, of dusk and come with a little magic in its build ups. Again, Fraiser just doesn't find the charm, she is subdued but in this reserved performance she gels with the nightly atmosphere.

Eggs And Their Shells has a subtle pivot, a warm uplift arises from its simple melody and the angular insertions that compliment it. Fraiser takes her voice to a delicate, airy height, a carefree delight. Its a slightly disjointed song but its differences create the best out of the subdued sound and that seems to be the key word on this record. If looking for something Ethereal with less immediacy, then this is it.

Rating: 4/10

Cocteau Twins "Tiny Dynamine" (1985)

 
This four track record, named Tiny Dynamine, is the first of a double EP release by the Cocteau Twins. Essentially, it could of been the groups forth album but due to internal dissatisfaction, it was cut in half and released quietly through the shorter format. A reoccurring theme in these songs that failed to make the cut, is Fraiser, who often fails to find the magic that makes it to the likes of Treasure or Sunburst And Snowblind. This time however there are sparks and notably no failed endeavors.

What stands apart is Guthrie's compositions. The luscious and lavish reveb soaked acoustics are elevated in fidelity and tone, starting to unpick the lock on this magic. Instrumental piece Ribbed And Veined goes to a whole new realm as its chemistry with the soft and airy synths pinned beneath slip into a nightly indulgence. In this moment I can barely tell both the aesthetic and melody apart from Autumn's Grey Solace. Perhaps it is this era that is their biggest inspiration.

It and the opening song are worthy of much attention. The remaining two are foggy tracks, where the punching power of crisp instruments is muted in their unresolved focus. On both it seems as if clarity never lands on any set instrument or voice. The result is moody atmospheres that pass by without a hook or lure to bring one into the music and set it alight. With another four songs to get too, it does already seem pretty clear why this double release decision was made.

Rating: 4/10

Cocteau Twins "Aikea-Guinea" (1985)

 

 

Its another EP from the Cocteau Twins but this time the four songs are of notable intrigue! Perhaps it is the title track and lead single that is the least impressive! Its temperament is rather adjacent to Treasure, with brightly polished bass lines plucking at a steady pace and a drum machine dressed up to be more convincing, the swells of emotional sound from Guthrie's noisy guitar and airy synths are peaked by the melodies of sparkling bells yet it is Frasier who doesn't find the charm. Her vocals toy with the wordless dynamic, drifting up to circle the high ranges but miss the mark.

With a similar temperament on the following Kookaburra, it is Guthrie's shrill guitar grinding, dissipating into atmospheric swoons over the warm piano chords and keen bass lines that sell the magic. Quisquose pivots to a strong piano led march, brought to life by luscious acoustic guitars painting a darkly mood. Its the instrumentation that shapes up to be the endearing quality of these songs, the compositions generally repetitive and shifting between complimenting arrangements back and forth.

It seems to be a reoccurring theme that Fraiser's normally enthralling performances just don't land on these EPs. The final and bwat song is the short Rocco, an instrumental it would be hard to picture a voice in. The textural mystery of Guthrie's guitar noises get pinned by these bold, upfront base notes marching hard. The interchange between the two provides tension and then relief for the magic. The song doesn't progress anywhere much from its main idea but the chemistry is its charm. This is definitely a better set of b-sides. As always they lack that finishing touch.

Rating: 4/10

Cocteau Twins "Treasure" (1984)

When embarking on this newest musical journey with the Cocteau Twins, it is this record I was itching to write about. Discovering them back in 2011, Treasure was the album to lure me in and I have adored it too this day. Admittedly it doesn't get much rotation anymore but spinning it up again has been a pleasure and with critical ears I love how the stiff fidelity of its drum machine and awkward production were details I never heard before. These songs are so gorgeous and engulfing, that the magic simply glosses over its flaws. As I've commented before though, its aesthetic ruggedness very much works to enrich the slightly esoteric and ethereal vibes.

Stepping away from their Post-Punk roots and into Dream Pop territory, Guthrie's layered guitar experimentation finds refined glory in pivoting to acoustic guitars. Golden plucked strings lavished in reverbs often feature alongside other sparkling instruments that put emphasis on dreamy tones and a warm melodic rises. There are occasional uses of guitar distortion and its tone can sway into the shadows with these ten songs forging a wonderful variety for peering into peculiar places. Its obvious though, much of its instrumental magic is birthed from the expansion of instruments, used subtly in the swells of ethereal sound that gush forth. They play out the colored tuneful melodies the likes of Garlands before it once lacked.

Its all held in place by this clanky drum machine. Rigid and stiff in timing and tone, its repetitive strikes are often soaked in reverb, rattling off with forced punchy grooves that penetrate with a contrasted composure to everything else around it. Somehow, mysteriously, it just works so well. Fraiser's voice is another vector in the chemistry. These three components feel so distant from one another at times, yet together its a wondrous mix. I must say though, it comes in temperaments. The album jumps all over the place from track to track. Persephone may be the biggest example of what I've just described and yet with the following song Pandora it flips to its most cohesive and in tune composition. Notably, two of my favorite tracks as well.

Best of all, Fraiser comes completely into her own on this one. I was always under the impression her performance was entirely wordless and I loved putting my own words into her cryptic singing. Reading online lyric sheets does have me wondering. If they are true then its stunning how she pronounces words with such a mystic overcast. If not, its still just as magic but I prefer the later. The inflections and places she carries her voice too with vibratos and what not is endlessly joyous. Sailing high to low and dancing on her way. Every word, or lack of, just oozes with an endearing quality which never fails to cast a spell. Its some of the best vocal delivery you'll ever hear.

 Treasure is a milestone record for the group, an ascension to the spectacular. Its artistic, expressive, magical and stunningly mysterious. Knowing these songs so well, Guthrie's swell of ambiguous sound still spark the imagination. Fraisers veiled voicings always an indulgence. Its only shortcomings are in execution. Some amateurish swells of bass noise occasionally gather in the mix and some of its songs tend to end without direction. Sudden wind downs and lack of conclusion do hinder the odd song but otherwise its a classic, one anyone curious should give a go.

Rating: 9.5/10

Austra "Hirudin" (2020)

After a steady decline from their debut Feel It Break, Austra return with their fourth effort, Hirdudin. Its a resurgence of inspiration spearheaded by heartbroken pains that ripple through the warm mix of soft pianos and electronic instruments tinged in melancholy. As they do, simple song structures and short looping melodies create a glossy and modern, yet 80s Synthpop inspired setting for Stelmanis to flex her remarkable voice, becoming the beacon that makes it all work. Its opening songs remark on this stasis of hurt, after going through a brutal parting. The juxtaposition with playful, uplifting melodies is entrancing as her words walk a dark path.

 Growing past its powerful opening, the album plays with some sparse instrumentals to emphasize the power of Katie's stunning vibrato, almost robotic and inhuman at times, mesmerizer! On the track Risk It she again surprises with chipmunk high pitched singing thats surprisingly catchy, fun and not annoying. The mid-tempo dance groove below livens up the mood and after a couple more songs Mountain Baby is another ear catcher with its stiff yet charming nursery piano melody leading the tone. Not doubt this inclination is played up by the choir of kids singing sweetly in the intro.

On the very first play few I knew the album had come to an end with the arrival of Messiah. It reminded me of The Beast, a very powerful closing song from their debut. The piano and Katie's singing build up this oozing suspense that gets suspended and dissipated as the chords hammer away as airy reverberations and subtle cosmic synths sweep it all up and away. A stunning finale to a reasonable record that's far from perfect but has plenty of emotional out-pour to be embraced.

Rating: 7/10

Favorite Tracks: Anywayz, All I Wanted, How Did You Know, Mountain Baby, Messiah

Grimes "Geidi Primes" (2010)

Time alone justifies these ten years of evolution leading to Miss Anthropocene. Its practically unrecognizable in this infantile form, even the gap between Geidi Primes and Halfaxa is remarkable with just nine months between them. A DIY enthusiast and bedroom producer arrives at a raw inception with some peculiar parallels with whats to come. As a first impression, I may not have perused this discovery further but luck luckily reputation and repetitious listens yields a strange charm emanating from this low fidelity affair of narrow dingy production and Etheral voices. Despite being a little stark in comparison to its follow up, I like Geidi Primes for its simplicity more so.

Every track deploys a thin, distant and monotone percussive beat on a short loop. It holds tempo, contributing to the aparent starkness of style. Other dingy, muddy instruments chime in with a lack of clarity. The lack of punch or reach for fidelity gives it all strange shyness. A fondness is birthed by Grimes's voice who starts of with basic echos on her voice, then progresses along with the record, layering up, becoming central to the music. Avi is a good track where she surpasses the production, her singing becomes a wash of dreamy, ghostly wonder over sheltered instrumentals.

A track like Gambang with its choked up acoustic guitar sample gives a sense of intention to the low fidelity aspect, yet on the other hand it seems almost amateurish, wandering in through lack of knowing any better. Its eleven tracks bumble through this strange dimension with their short repetitions droning into obscurity. Innocent, dreamy and flirting with a lonely darkness, strange just doesn't seem to justify the actualization. Is it accidental brilliance or focused vision? Either way I feel this record, despite seeming simple, has depth and with each session I enjoy it more so.

Favorite Tracks: Rosa, Avi, Venus In Fleurs

Rating: 7/10

Grimes "Visions" (2016)

I've been fortunate, finding a pathway in that has worked. Art Angels was a sublime introduction to the imaginary world of Grimes. Understanding her playful voice, this record was immediately fun and spirited, however with that familiarity It may have not clicked so swiftly. With less of the structural evolution of her music to come, Visions plays more like a collection of musical experiments toying with aesthetics, both vocal and with an array of instruments. Its tone is typically dreamy, indulgent and the mood? Mildly ambiguous as its many shades occupy beautiful spaces open to the listeners interpretation. Its a joyous exercise in musical creativity crawling into many niches.

More commonly using her vocal chords as the atmospheric device, lavishing of excessive reverb and manipulations build the music up. Droning loops of electronic dance percussion hold up a tempo and framework for synths and melodies to chime in. The variety on display often ushers in this strange unease in disparity of tone between instruments. It really plays up an experimental vibe of a young musician toying with tones and embracing the chemistry that emerges. Oblivion is a keen example, its pianos, stabs and jolting, buzzing bass synth melody have a strange cohesion thats peaked by the arrival of bizarre synthetic choir voicing.

Its all lighthearted, a girl in her bedroom experimenting with sound and embracing the magic. What is most brilliant however, is her voice holding it all together like glue. She guides you to the genius with this embellished presence as it plays out. The most note able influence may be Synthpop and classic electro even reminiscent of Kraftwerk given the boldness of these synthesized melodies that are central throughout. Its been a pleasure that keeps giving. No particular highs or lows, it occupies the listening with a warmness devoid of flash or flair, a rather consistent and fun experience.

Favorite Tracks: Eight, Nightmusic

Rating: 8/10

Grimes "Miss Anthropocene" (2020)

With a substantial five year gap, Canadian singer & songwriter Grimes follows up her alarmingly bright and uplifting Art Angels with a project similar in tone yet gleamed by compositions that adventure deeper into darker imaginations. With many breaks for her defined artsy Pop pleasers, the gaps between delve into avant-garde themes with esoteric dexterity. They arrive with an enjoyable regularity. Last time around just a fraction of the music explored these stretches of creativity. With much of the songs residing comparatively in the sweet spot of appealing fuzzy feelings of goodness.

The slow and sleepy awakening of its opening track lingers in Ethereal shadows, setting a sombre tone for darkness to come. Darkseld slides into the dystopian as Grimes rapidly spurts her alien words over the droning thud of a descending and rigidly monotonous baseline. Its hypnotic, the chemistry is ripe. Violence lingers in an ambiguity between moods as its Downtempo drum groove marches the dreamy track onward. 4AM takes the biscuit as its unassuming intro of meandering high pitched singing paves a diversion for a party synth and Drumstep beat to propel the music to another planet. Brilliant! as is much of the layering vocals and reverb abuse to come.

The tracks around these significant moments don't come with as much flair and cavalier but have held up well over my many listens through this record. Its doesn't pack the same punch and might disappoint some but I thing the less obvious tracks have depth. Grime's lyrics and compositional experimenting stand strong and paint slow begrudging atmospheres with a lot of beauty emanating. The slower tempos tend not to grab attention in the same way, yet as an album of subtleties, its full of them. A really great record with plenty to come back too. Its got me looking forward to more!

Favorite Tracks: Darkseld, Violence, 4AM, My Name Is Dark

Rating: 8/10

Grimes "Art Angels" (2015)

Wildly individual yet accommodatingly familiar, Canadian singer and composer Grimes has blown me away with this critically acclaimed record I'm just catching up to. It was her appearance on the Mindscape podcast that prompted me to finally get around a name I've been hearing over and over this past decade. Definitively self-taught and devilishly expressive, her music in this instance is a free formed tapestry of creativity, musical ideas colliding yet landing with grace. Everything eccentric, experimental and fun works its way into the cracks of commonality. Given its her forth album, it might have been a journey to arrive at this exceptional moment. Something I'll learn soon.

Opening with a couple mysterious machinations of obscurities, best exemplified on the jaunting Scream, Art Angels drops into swooning currents of uplifting Dream Pop, rolling out cheerful, chirpy and artistic pop songs one after the other. With a unique flavor, she unexpectedly rolls out experimental and otherwise unusual constructs, often percussive, that gel effortlessly. Occasionally Ethereal, often grooving, the music's sea of influences swell in the later half with these Club music temperaments of Dance and Rave propelling this mesmerizing and indulgent atmosphere.

Grimes brings in her sometimes childish, playful and innocent voice that transforms to a mature and spirited swoon, ascending to a heavenly dimension as she soars with a freedom in the crescendos. Cruising through the clouds and leaving all earthly weight behind, she births many an entrancing passage when reaching to the peaks of her singing. Its in these climatic moments you'll forget everything. Its liberating.

My journey into the record was interesting in retrospect. What just seemed like good and cheery music in the beginning steadily indulged with familiarity and blossomed into a wonderful experience that I can't get enough of. I'm so impressed by the individuality of Grimes, in her compositions and singing she can be so welcoming and warm in tone it almost masks the beautiful and intricate world of her music that you end up trapped inside of. All to easy to hear it as generic but with a closer ear you'll get locked inside her imaginative realm, never wanting to leave.

Favorite Tracks: Scream, Flesh Without Blood, Artangels, World Princess Part II, Venus Fly, Buttefly

Rating: 9/10

Poppy "I Disagree" (2020)

The only time I'd heard of American singer Poppy beforehand was in the middle of some good old "he said, she said" internet drama. The story goes that her image is modeled around her producer and collaborator's previous artist, causing creative identity controversy. Ditching the former musical partner, she's brought a new team to this record, taking an experimental stride to brush with the twisted aesthetics of Extreme Metal in a whirlwind of styles stretching from buttery Pop and lush Electronic, to the boom and bounce of Nu Metal with a little Industrial grit. I was turned onto this new release by friends but Ive got to be critical, its all a bit too contrived for my taste.

I Disagree's strenuous diversity and flashy eclecticism feels like a shallow facade as just about every pallet presented keenly remind me of other artists, styles and aesthetics heard before. This lack of originality is thrust forth by the stitched nature of its musical progressions. Sudden shifts, jolts and turns in momentum feel hollow as the music pivots from dreamy singing and sunny synths to dirty Djent guitars and hammering drums with little meaning. It leaves the song writing in an awkward place where its intent feels at the mercy of a failed attempt to be audacious and daring.

It's not all bad however. The various musical pallets play well, textures and aesthetics sound gorgeous from start to end, there just isn't any cohesion. Poppy sounds at her soft and effeminate best in the dreamy pop sections as pivots to extremities often suck away the mood in favor of nonsensical aggression. The lyrics too are a bit all over the place. J-Pop influences play out with a quirky manor that falls flat on me. "Bite your own teeth" and other lines fail to offer substance. I think Anything Like Me talks to the drama addressed above and with that some meaning and depth is found but its lacking elsewhere, another dimension that falls short.

For the most part each listen flys by. Its entertaining but with little digging in deep or getting stuck in the mind. It does however end on a fantastic high note as Sick Of The Sun actually sticks to one idea for the whole track, playing out a strange summery vibe that's slightly esoteric and ethereal. It almost feels like a two part epic as an acoustic plucked guitar akin to Metallica's Call Of The Cthulhu or Ozzy's Killer Of Giants brings us into a second phase. This then finds the album's best metallic riffs as giant meaty notes parade with mountainous stature, leading into dazzling guitar solos. Its fantastic song writing on an album that's sorely missing it for all the tracks leading to this ending. A great bow out but also the only two songs to take away from it all.

Favorite Tracks: Sick Of The Sun, Don't Go Outside

Rating: 5/10

Autumn's Grey Solace "Englelícra" (2019)

 

Somehow, someway, I missed this release last year by one of my favorite bands! I think I've struggled to enjoy their recent records as much due to a shift in direction and lack of evolution that's left one of the duo's most charming aspects, the singing of lyrics, in the dust. However going into this, their twelfth studio record, I was essentially prepared to embrace whatever it was. With that relinquish of expectation I found my self absorbed by the moody sombre beauty of their established sound once again.

With no surprises Scott Ferrell plucks out eight constructs of lavish instrumentation, all oozing in echos and reverberations. His shimmering guitars birth a luscious tropical darkness both beautiful and melancholy, a colorful sound that drifts into the pale. Driven along by soft but firm driving baselines and simple looping arrangements of cavernous drum patterns, the songs tend to exchange their complimenting sections back and forth before the run time concludes the song with no crescendo.

Singer Erin Welton lends her voice to the music more so as an instrument, singing just notes with a sweet and soft delicacy, coming in like a wind gusting through and fading back into the silence. Of course she is given a fair helping of reverb to achieve this ghostly yet beautiful tone. She tends to deploy melodies the likes of a synth would do, dropping on top of the instrumental with short notation loops to layer up the harmony. Their are occasions of experimentation and vocal dexterity but its mostly simple.

All the songs tend to echo the shades of previous songs as the formula has barely shifted and given the relatively simple song structures and lack of complexity the album really hinges on mood and atmosphere. To no surprise that is where they excel and so this record was warm and welcoming to dive into, getting exactly what you'd expect, an engrossing Ethereal feeling. I would still very much like to see them diversify and experiment but no complaints from me if this is all we get!

Rating: 7/10

Horsebeach "The Unforgiving Current" (2019)

Ive been eagerly anticipating this release. Two years back Beauty & Sadness blew me away, one of my favorites that year. I still fondly return to it, hence the anticipation. The Unforgiving Current continues in a similar vein, Post-Punk baselines drive breezy atmospheres echoing Indie & Psychedelic Rock. There is a closeness to Dream Pop in tone, a touch of Brit Pop and 80s vibes influencing chord progressions. Its a beautiful melting pot from which slow and soothing, inviting songs nurture its serene and sunny warmness. There is a vulnerable core, journey on the soft and expressive voices that filter in and out of focus.

Its unimposing presence makes for an easy, relaxed listening experience where one can indulge in its exotic tone. As the album unfolds, elements of R&B, Soul & Funk even present themselves subtly. Shimmering guitars ring out, creating swooning swirls of breezy color over the grooving baselines. The track Trust opens up with a chilling similarity to The Isley Bothers song Voyage To Atlantis, other songs to have echos of that classic era of mainly American music from the 70s and 80s.

The record follows a similar blueprint to its predecessor, the songs flow with similar temperaments and shifts in mood. There are tracks with drum machine and those without, its all very familiar territory. Deploying beautiful melodies and unfolding riffs, occasional burst of experimentation, the music does a lot to warm your soul but it falls short of being remarkable on the production front. In comparison they are both very similar records but the initial reaction to discovering a new sound to adore masked the obviously amatursih production and that became rather obvious this time around.

It starts with the baseline, a noticeable amount of clunk roughens up its presence and the drum strikes land a little cluttered in the presences of other instruments. Every now and then a drab and fuzzy distortion guitar rumbles in, bleeding into the other instruments and soaking up the fidelity. With a lot of reverberations at work the instruments mostly sound like they are recorded with a different sonic blueprint. When mixed together its comes off a bit disjointed. Perhaps I am nit picking, initially the low-fidelity was a charm but this time around its tame. Listening back to their older songs I think a noticeable shift to subtler styles of singing misses that element of a voice rising up above the melody to peak the vibes and hold your attention. Its a very enjoyable record but a noticeable step side ways, with the sound remaining in a familiar spot.

Favorite Tracks: The Unforgiving Current, Yuuki, Trust, Unlucky Strike

Rating: 7/10