Recommended Track: Spectral Bride

Spectral Bride
by Giles Corey
If there's a more depressive track that's been released this year, I haven't heard it. The sluggish acoustic guitar, slowly prodding along with it's bluesy strut is the foundation for the full 7+ minute duration of the song. It starts slowly, alone, then the vocals begin like a choir of corpses, singing in plaintive tones, there's a sincerity in the vocal that evokes and invites the most genuine sorrow. Slowly the piano and drum fills join in, then the horns, until all is a blistering crescendo of suffering and grace. The structure is not unique but it's execution most certainly is; It's as if the guitar, alone, bummed out, begins to strut down the street, and all the tortured souls on the boulevard join him gradually, until a stroll becomes a march.
The track has a very smokey flavor, very crisp yet clouded with intangibility. However through all the turbidity and negative space there is a suffering so clear and so striking that it makes you stop, and you can't help but join Giles Corey on his walk through redemption. Because there is a very strong feeling of salvation here, through all the dense murk and pain there is a light at the end of the tunnel, a hope that things will get better. It's a song of the deepest pathos, the most emotionally affecting song I've heard all year.

Music Review: Strange Mercy

St. Vincent
Strange Mercy


4AD; 2011


For me, this might go down as the most delightful surprise of 2011. It's not that I had low expectations for this, St. Vincent's third LP. It's simply that I didn't have any expectations at all. I'm not unfamiliar with Annie Clark's body of work, I, along with many others got a hold of, and thoroughly enjoyed her 2009 sophomore effort Actor. It wasn't album of the year or anything, but it was definitely one of the more colorful outputs of that year. Wonderful art pop overflowing with lush instrumentation and overtly melodic sensibilities.

As eccentric and simply delightful as Actor is, Clark did lose something through all the orchestration and inventiveness of the music that she had a firm grip on on her debut LP Marry Me, that being ...herself. Throughout her debut she was consistently expressing herself, every instrument and note was there only to emphasize the duality, conflict and pure raw emotion within her own self. The music was very self contained and felt very much a part of Miss Clark, as if she were cutting herself open and handing you her body parts on demand. Whereas Actor finds her exploring texture and sounds for our ecstatic enjoyment (and we did enjoy it), in retrospect it feels now like an album she simply needed to get out of the way in order to make Strange Mercy.

On this, Clark's third LP as St. Vincent, we find her with nigh perfect control over her music, now with an arsenal of tricks up her sleeve, every single track has an element of surprise. Although the instrumentation might not be as flashy as that on Actor, it feels more controlled, everything that needs to be there is there. That's not to say that the album has a minimalist approach, hardly. This is still very, very layered music with which one reaps the true rewards after multiple listens. It's simply to say that Clark has the confidence now to stand on her own two feet, and scream and shout and cry without the need for an orchestra backing her up, it's really the greatest of compliments and a testament to her ability as an artist.

The sound of this album is so full and pleasing to the ears, it simply feels nice to listen to, even more-so than Actor, which as it stands is an album noted for it's textures. The tone of the guitar is so clumpy and ugly and obnoxious, and juxtaposes the gentle atmosphere of the background synths perfectly. There's always a good number of high-end and low-end sounds going on at any one time, making for a very satisfying listening experience. And if there's anyone who knows how to write an original hook, it's most definitely Annie Clark. Cruel, the album's first lead single has a hook that will make your ears salivate at it's pure delightful infectiousness, and it's interesting fretwork and layering assure rewarding repeat listens.

What leaves me in such adoration for this album isn't simply the depth, or the innovation (although this album would be nothing without them). It reminded me of why I listen to music so often in the first place, it's fun. Buckets of fun. This album is the 'wild Friday night out' of recent releases, just try to slow your pulse during the synth solo in Surgeon, or the floor-stomping chorus of Cheerleader. With Strange Mercy Clark has proved to be an innovative artist with a bright future ahead of her, worth our full attention, and pity on anyone who isn't watching.

9.0

Music Review: Looping State of Mind

The Field
Looping State of Mind

Kompakt; 2011


The Field (aka Axel Willner) is a one-man trance/house project with strong flavors of minimalist techno, shoegaze and ambient music wrapped into a very coherent package that can really only be described as; The Field. Willner really broke out in 2007 with his debut LP From Here We Go Sublime,   producing music so shameless in it's simplicity yet so unapologetic for it's majesty. Containing very limited 4/4 drum loops and samples repeated for minutes on end, creating a very blissfully hypnotic effect. It is this hypnotic bliss that Willner is so good at conveying, and he knows it. However he's also aware of the need to expand his sound to new horizons whilst still harvesting from his roots, as shown on his sophomore LP.

Now, roots are really the key to the ultimate success or failure of Looping State of Mind, and while the album title may suggest a strong return to form after 2009's somewhat meandering Yesterday and Today, Looping State of Mind actually finds Willner expanding more, however the music isn't quite as indulgent as that of  Yesterday and Today. Sure there's not a single track under 7 minutes to be found here, but Willner really uses restraint on a lot of these tracks and actually builds on them. Whereas on a track like Sun & Ice off of From Here We Go Sublime, Willner would let the simplicity of the sample do all the work, we find him here on tracks like Burned Out, consistently layering the dreamy frenzy creating a kind of understated crescendo. This is one of the new tricks he's really honed in on throughout the album, and it's quite a welcome change of pace. Not only does he build on tracks but he also has the gall to drop them almost completely, as on It's Up There, where the core sample drops off, and the listener is forced to recognize the uncharacteristic amount of intricacy and overall funkyness in the drum loop. It's quite a bold move really, as it signifies Willner's departure from the surreal pathos of his 4/4 bass/high-hat drum loops and spare sampling, and his evolution into something more animalistic, base and primal in nature.

Don't get me wrong though, this still sounds like The Field we all know and love, Willner's still reveling in hypnotic bliss, his execution has simply changed. And the album does have it's weak moments, there are times when we find Willner relying on his samples a little too much, and one could still argue that his earlier, simpler methods make his present ones all the more convoluted and contrived. However it is clear that Axel Willner is still making electronic music which is compelling, cryptic and derivative of no one but himself. And although we may never hear another album quite like From Here We Go Sublime again in our lifetime, it has become clear with this release that The Field is a musical project wholly deserving of our time and attention.

8.1

Greetings and Salutations.

This blog shall be dedicated to Film and Music Reviews, and whatever else I'm in the mood for. Maybe the odd book review? I don't know yet. All I know is I don't want to just review film as I was doing before. I'm not really expecting anybody to read this but rather I'm using this blog as a means of perfecting my very flawed writing and analysis skills as a critic, and if you enjoy a piece of writing or two, all the merrier.

-Seth.