Emotional growth is slow and sometimes the process seems to move in reverse. There’s no real endpoint, either, but each forward movement is like another notch in the celestial plane and it holds a special kind of viscous magic. Taranoya captures this spirit beautifully on her debut album, Becoming, lacing minimal synth work around her towering, ethereal vocals. Vast open spaces become a haven for lost melodies and dangling harmonies, changing shape within Taranoya’s shifting sonic ocean.
Laconic synth gestures float against a strident current on “You’re Only Breaking Down,” Taranoya’s voice lifts the entire performance. Imbued with cautious optimism that the journey ahead is doable, the swirling melodies rise and fall like sonic waves. There’s a simplicity involved that carries weight and holds an added importance. “Thinking About You” starts with a lethargic ache, but rises into the electronic clouds, confidently drifting through dissonant tonal passages. Everything in Taraynoya’s soundworld is painted with a placid haze.
Inside the washed-away vistas of “Do I Return?” a stilted keyboard longs for stillness. Delicate vocal melodies pass by in all directions, memories let go and forgotten. Synths crawl through debris, keeping their timbre low to the ground, only casting a string of notes skyward at random intervals. Peacefulness wanes in the background, electronic rain revealing an ultraviolet path toward a welcoming horizon. Melancholy saturates each vocal line, but as Taranoya sings it begins to fade away.
Becoming is a memorable journey; the sound of an artist finding growing, and embracing her voice, and sending it out into the world. Taranoya’s immersive universe holds gravity at bay, finding new ways to spiral into the air and onto the next sacred sphere. The world is difficult and strange, but Becoming promises there is more to come.
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