Foxy Digitalis
I am smitten with Karen Vogt’s new album, Le Mans. As I’ve long been a fan of her work, I was shocked when I listened to this for the first time. Her music is so often ethereal and weightless, built on layers of various instrumentation and, of course, her voice (Losing the Sea is a beautiful example). […]
Maryam Kiani is an Iranian-born-and-raised musician and composer, and her debut album, Embrace, is out today on Low Versions. It’s an emotional record with visceral throughlines, building on the concept of changing life’s trajectory. Kiani uses an array of instrumentation and compositional techniques to create unique sound worlds filled with emotive synth passages, angular rhythms, and […]
There are so many layers and corridors on Rosso Polare’s new album, Bocca D’Ombra, to get lost within, but I keep returning to the ancient tendrils twisting through each layer. Cesare Lopopolo and Anna Vezzosi tap into something primal, taking listeners on a time-traveling journey. Even though this music feels from another era, the compositional and […]
The first three albums from the Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble feel like a growing tree, emerging each season with massive new branches and forming elegant skyward pathways. Melodies from another time mesh with inventive song structures and engaging timbres to create a still-unfolding narrative. Their latest, III, expands the ensemble’s aural worlds with new sonic elements and […]
I am smitten with Carmen Jaci’s debut, Happy Child. It’s an album filled with joy and wonder, all communicated through compelling compositions and intricate sonic patterns. There are so many elements whirring and singing at any given moment, and it can be dizzying but in an engaging, whimsical way. Everything in the world of Happy Child sounds pristine, […]
Jack Prest’s The Risk of Hyperbole is such an engaging, expansive interdisciplinary work that it feels like scaling a sonic mountain to get a full view. What always comes through, though, is the clarity of his vision and the freedom with which he shares it with his collaborators. While this is Prest’s work, it has the fingerprints […]
It’s easy to get instantly lost in the simple, weightless vocal harmonies that open Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi’s beguiling EP, Wildflowers. Effortless melodies rise skyward, propelled through space by wistful guitar motifs and lilting arrangements. I am captivated by Hansen-Knarhoi’s voice, whose velvet timbre and vintage texture imbue each passage with ageless reverence. Moments small and large punctuate […]
Katie Lou McCabe’s music transmits something well beyond the sonic shapes and sound forms. Her new album, Innersense, is a diaristic reflection that can almost feel like too much. All of McCabe is buried within the aural atmospheres and hypnotic vocal wanderings. Still, it is less a looking glass than an invitation to find our own […]
Sam Wenc’s Post Moves project creates moments of stillness while never actually sitting still. His engaging approach to composition and, especially, his use of pedal steel builds unseen connections between expression and reflection. If this music imagines sonic spaces for us to look inward, the result is a bridge to some unknown place. Recall the Dream […]