Indieville
Records from Britain's Dead Sea Liner imprint always seem to defy description. As with the EL Heath and Textured Bird Transmission discs, wyrd folk artifact Vessel seems more about atmosphere than anything else -- an intriguing and despairing soundscape meant for (real or imagined) rainy days. Dreary piano lines and sparse guitar strokes are employed to build eerie musical architectures, while lone contributor Sandra Reignoux sings/speaks over top, sounding something like a compromise between Bjork, Cibo Matto, and Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino. Although her approach is far from conventional, this affair turns out to be remarkably listenable, if unquestionably bizarre. As always, a pleasant excursion from the Dead Sea Liner crew. Vessel is a little short, but it makes the most of its duration.
Notes: Each copy includes a page removed from a horticultural guidebook. Mine is about buckwheat.
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Heathen Harvest
01 O Falc‹o (featuring Senhor Manel) 02 Stargazer 03 A Vision 04 South Feather 05 Under A Wheel 06 Riding Giants 07 A Colorless Day I was initially surprised to see a Dead Sea Liner release turning up at my place. From what I recall, most of what this label releases is noise and related. Stuff I should not be reviewing. Stuff I don't understand. But this turned out to be a very nice listening experience. Totally unexpected. Which is the best kind. This is no noise at all, this is the strange lo-fi side of folk. Bits of experimental, bits of ambient, bits of drone, bits of neoclassical, it's all thrown in a blender, and this is the result. srx is a one female act by Sandra Reignoux, from France. She has also released a split release with Half Asleep on Humpty Dumpty Records and a split release with Tiago Sousa on Merzbau. 'Vessel' seems to be her first solo release though, with seven songs that are together 18 minutes of joy. It are short songs indeed, and the opener, a collaboration with Portuguese Senhor Manel, is four and a half minute already. It's an instrumental track, with minimal pianoplay and some soundscapes. It changes into an intense drone folk tune, only to end in a minimal pianosolo that slowly fades out. The second track is also a drone track with a nice climax. But it's a significantly shorter track; not even two minutes long. Immediately at the start of the third track, Sandra's voice announces the songtitle ('A Vision') in a girly voice, reminding a bit of Wendy Van Dusen (Neither/Neither World). This first track with lyrics is very promising indeed; a lofi folk sound, with piano, guitar and Sandra's peculiar voice. The same is continued throughout the rest of the album, but it never becomes boring in any way. A track that deserves some special attention is the short 'Riding Giants', which is almost a cappella, and with multiple layers of the same vocals. It's quite hypnotic. This is very enjoyable strange folk. This is not for someone who restricts one self to a particular brand; be it neofolk, medieval, traditional or whatever. This needs a certain form of openmindedness. Anyone who would want to try out some strange folk, srx is a good start, and this CDR only costs £3. it comes in two loose paper sheets; on with a drawing of a cat, and the tracklist, and one that seems to be a page out of a flower catalogue. If anyone wants to know, I have page 65/66; Pinks.