Tag: experimental

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Becky and the Birds – Paris

Becky and the Birds is the solo project of Swedish artist Thea Gustafsson, and someone I first came across via her eponymous 2018 debut EP, which is still one I go back to regulalrly. Paris is taken from her new EP Trasslig, which roughly translates from the Swedish “entangled, messy, intricate”, which neatly sums up the vibe across the seven tracks it contains. As on much of her work, her voice on Paris is extraordinary, hitting high notes that transcend traditional vocals and become strange, eerie textures floating above sparse, otherworldly production.

https://www.beckyandthebirds.com

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Jackie Lynn – Control

Control is the final track on Jackie Lynn’s (aka Circuit des Yeux’s Haley Fohr) latest album Jacqueline, and it’s a pretty phenomenal way to wrap up the 30 minutes or so of eclecticism that precedes it. Ranging from electro-inflected punk to soaring, ethereal folk to out-and-out pop, it’s a disorienting experience of being flung from one genre to another without the slightest bit of warning. And then there’s Control, an epic, grandiose finale that’s both fragile and foreboding, and a fitting end to a hugely ambitious release.

https://jackielynn.bandcamp.com/album/jacqueline

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Moses Sumney – Two Dogs

I have tried hard to love græ, the new album by Moses Sumney. It’s clearly brilliant, and the scale of it is pretty staggering, but I’ve found it almost overwhelmingly impenetrable on the many occasions I’ve sat down to listen. This is a failing on my part. However, there is a three-track run at the start of the second side of the double LP that is utterly sublime, kicking off with Two Dogs. I just wish I liked the rest of the album as much as these 10 minutes or so. I’m sorry, Moses: I have tried, and been found wanting.

https://www.mosessumney.com

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Klara Lewis – Ingrid

Ingrid starts off with nothing more than a solo, softly reverbed cello, which wanders round a little before locking into a single repeated refrain. Over the course of the next 20 minutes it’s slowly joined by various electronic textures, gradually dissolving into a cacophony of static before Lewis strips everything away again until only the stark, fragile strings remain. It’s stunning, and Lewis’s ability to wring this amount of tension and emotion from a single, simple loop is really quite breathtaking.

https://klaralewis.com

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altopalo – longlife

altopalo are an experimental quartet who met in New York and have been putting out strange, sometimes unsettling and often very beautiful music for the last few years. This is taken from their second album farawayfromeveryoneyouknow, and is delicate, sparse and very lovely indeed.

https://altopalo.bandcamp.com

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Zeroh – Hydro

This is taken from Zeroh’s new album BLQLYTE, which is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve heard this year. I guess ‘experimental hip hop’ would be a vaguely appropriate description, but it doesn’t really come close to doing it justice. It’s an almost overwhelming experience, and you really need to listen to the album in full to properly appreciate its depth.

https://horez.bandcamp.com

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Cremation Lily – Evenings Cast Astray

As distinctly un-Friday as the new album by Cremation Lily is, I’m really, really enjoying it. Static-drenched and ultimately pretty moody, it also has flashes of radiant joy breaking through the grey. Case in point: the last few moments of Evenings Cast Astray, which starts life with a simple, acoustic guitar strumming away, moving through an eruption of white noise before everything else fades, leaving a single, beautiful synth line and a few chirruping birds for good measure.

https://cremationlily.bandcamp.com

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Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Steady Heart

Wonderfully weird and unpredictable electronica from Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. The Steady Heart encompasses elements of folk, jazz, choral and various strands of electronic music, and is completely beguiling from start to finish.

https://kaitlynaureliasmith.bandcamp.com

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Cindy Lee – Plastic Raincoat

An alias of former Woman frontman Patrick Flegel, this is taken from Cindy Lee’s fifth studio album What’s Tonight to Eternity?, which is partly inspired by the music and ultimately tragic story of Karen Carpenter. If these names mean nothing to you, worry not: you don’t need to know any of the backstory to enjoy it. The album’s a real gem packed full of spectral synths and icy vocals, and Plastic Raincoat is a superbly absorbing opening track.

https://www.thefader.com/2020/02/20/cindy-lee-whats-tonight-to-eternity-profile-interview

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JFDR – Drifter

JFDR is the solo project of Icelandic artist Jófríður Ákadóttir. I was a big fan of her 2017 album Brazil and Drifter is a clear standout from her new LP New Dreams. Her voice is incredible – taut and fragile – and the production is pretty much exclusively stripped-down and skeletal. Tense music for tense times.

https://jfdrcurrent.com/