deknalis

Finally an album bold enough to ask the question, "how many times can you open with slow lush French samples before using the same audio clip saying 'LORETTA' drop a beat before it gets boring?" Despite the wide variety of sounds through the sampling done on paper, and rock solid production on any given track in isolation, there's a real monotony to these tracks as an album because of the structural similarities in my opinion. Doesn't help that a few tracks like Ancient Degreez are ... read more

The first track was really sort of mesmerizing. Dana Margolin's vocals were absolutely packed to the gills with emotion, bursting at the seams, and the climax devolving into the same line being repeated as if to convince both you and her as the music slowly rises. And then... that same thing happened again. And again. It's not that the album is a one trick pony, the instrumentation and production is usually interesting and the vocals are raw and almost confrontational in a very compelling way. ... read more

The first track, Pat's Pigs, has some interesting uses of sparse production and more ambient soundscapes, but a lot of it also feels just kind of bare. There's a sort of windswept feeling that a lot of it evokes which I'm a fan of, but I can't help but feel the minimalism becomes a double edged sword to a degree, better as background music than any sort of transporting soundscape. The other tracks, though, I'm much more fond of. Electronic is captivatingly jarring, the vocals are hypnotic and ... read more

Confrontationally, challengingly dissonant and esoteric almost to the point of self-parody. In other words, really great. Even in its most cacophonous moments, it never fully loses a sense of energy and atmosphere building. Breath and Pipes in particular cycles through so many moods and tones over the course of 48 minutes, constantly under threat of collapse but never succumbing to it.