I’m not sure I can overstate the importance of Gayle Brogan and her defunct distro, Boa Melody Bar, to Foxy Digitalis (and various tendrils thereof) specifically, but to the experimental underground more generally. She’s long been a champion of the most out-there sounds with an open heart and curious ear, and that same spirit is woven into the fabric of her solo project, Pefkin.
On her latest, the magickal The Land is a Sea of Waiting, Brogan captures an ancient ethereal spirit and transforms it into an inviting, mystical soundworld. Pulling back the curtains on opener, “Eddying,” her voice pierces through the fragile haze. Spatial patterns ripple through overcast skies, outlining imagined landscapes that move with the wind. Synthesizers spill lilting tonal arrangements across arcadia, bleeding into the sunlight peeking over the horizon. This music is expansive and warm, wrapping itself around us as weary strings hint at darker days ahead. Time passes in phases on “Eddying,” the drones growing in breadth to hold the void at bay. Aural streams of light still find their way through, and the silhouettes of yesteryear’s ardor never completely fade away.
Perkin’s music has a tactile quality from the countless intersecting timbral layers. “Deep Sea, Deep Time” is built on a hovering mist, but golden meditations linger. While the passage bubbles along, following the path of least resistance, Brogan’s voice again beams like a signal from the heavens. A feeling of acceptance conveyed in the looping guitars and electronics is hypnotic, a sonorous reassurance that time takes us where we’re meant to be. Passing through the astral divide, the embrace is complete.
Closer “Swan Wing Burial” is lighter than air. Coalescing from gorgeous sonic shimmers into unfaltering, wistful violin memories, Pefkin illuminates the opening that leads to an eternal promise. Each rising note glides skyward to become another pale galaxy in a sea of stars. The voice rains from above, twisting around the weeping strings like a silver balm to set spirits free. This ageless music is stunning. The Land is a Sea in Waiting celebrates the ancient consciousness adrift deep within the waves awaiting its time to return.
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