The REVIEWS

Amber Arcades

Fading Lines (HEAVENLY)

Amber Arcades—the thrilling and delectable project of Dutch artist Annelotte de Graaf— revel in the ability to combine textures, sounds, and colors together to create dream-like sounds and sequences; but forever being driven along by a pop heartbeat. There are echoes of the likes of Stereolab, Broadcast, and even some frazzled Cocteau Twins sounds in there, but the truth is that the music never sits still enough for such comparisons to be truly made. At times everything will drop out and you’re listening to a Lysergic-tinged Laura Marling, and at other times the clatter and tumult of the drums evokes thoughts of Can and NEU!. But what is so truly special about Fading Lines is that in de Graaf’s expert hands, the different sources and textures work beautifully and organically together. “Turning Light” is a glorious piece of electro-fringed psychedelic rush, while the delicate pull-and-tug of “Apophenia” is perfectly judged, as are the über-pop shimmer of “Come with Me” and the outstanding “Right Now.”Fading Lines is not a pop album, but it is an album that truly understands how melody and an understanding of pop music can be combined with intelligent and disparate elements to produce music that never settles, never compromises, and never condescends, yet is able to thrill and inform at every turn. There may be better albums than Fading Lines released in 2016, but it’s doubtful whether any of them will contain the same perfectly-weighted combination of sounds and influences. A truly beguiling debut. (www.amberarcades.net)

By David Edwards

ANOHNI

HOPELESSNESS (SECRETLY CANADIAN)

There’s a sort of giddy anticipation of a collaborative project of artists whose work you like individually for different reasons and whose intersecting creative paths were a complete mystery. Eluding fanfare, singer Antony Hegarty, now taking the name ANOHNI and commonly known from her music made as Antony & The Johnsons, united with two of the more ambitious electronic producers out there to fashion the music for HOPELESSNESS , her first studio album in four years. In unexpected tandem here is the abstract electro-expressionism of Oneohtrix Point Never and the spasmodic superball buoyancy of Hudson Mohawke, forming the landing pad for the ghostly melancholy of ANOHNI’s delivery.

ANOHNI was seeking a musical setting a world apart from the operatic jazz-folk of past recordings, where mournful songs would drip down sullen chamber pieces like rain on a window pane. To this end, the three together co-manufacture a fluctuating rhythmical force field to liberate her messages from their former place of quiet resignation.

The experiment is surprisingly rewarding in places where the low-pitch pliancy of ANOHNI’s voice finds harmonic correspondence with the pulse of electronic moodscaping. In one turn, nuanced filtering of sonorous sobs are contoured by warping circuits of synth. Then her triumphant bellows follow the trajectory of production when it leaps grandly upward. In such moments, crafty harnessing of ANOHNI’s unusual vocal register imbues the production with potency and drama. The problem is that the entirety of HOPELESSNESS isn’t convincing as a collective vision, but rather an attempt of co-musicians to land on common ground through contributing individual parts. Some tracks come across like impromptu recording sessions where ANOHNI worked through recently-penned material over production pieces messed around with just before she’d arrived at the studio. Still, there is enough in this unexpected assimilation of talents to hold intrigue. (www.antonyandthejohnsons.com)

By Charles Steinberg

Julianna Barwick

Will (DEAD OCEANS)

Julianna Barwick has occupied a unique space in music since her breakthrough, 2011’s The Magic Place . She makes music that isn’t quite electronic, because it’s too organic; isn’t quite instrumental, since it features voice; and isn’t quite ambient, since her music isn’t all drones and tones. Barwick’s music is unmistakably hers— while she started as “the singer who loops her voice over and over,” she’s expanded on that palette to stunning results. Her 2013 effort for Dead Oceans, Nepenthe , added more orchestral build-up—perhaps thanks to the album’s producer, Sigur Rós collaborator Alex Somers—without leaving behind the hypnotic quality of Barwick’s looping, churning vocal turns.

Her new album, Will , finds new inspirations creeping into her music, but remains distinctly full of sounds only she could create. Will features less epic instrumentation or overt post-rock buildup than Nepenthe , but it remains remarkably affecting and emotional. This time around, Barwick finds more influence in synthesized soundscapes, embracing more of the ambient undertones of her work than ever before. This is obvious on “Same,” which features M83-like synth lines, behind Barwick’s softly echoing vocals (as usual, her lyrics are either non-existent or unintelligible). “Nebula” sounds like a film score with its repeated, bubbling backdrop, sounds reminiscent of composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Similarly, “Big Hollow” is a slow, ambient drone, punctuated by moments of beautifully muted piano. Barwick has spoken about learning her singing style by growing up singing church a cappella music, and on Will , that feeling of the deeper, mystic power of the human voice is on full display.

Much of Will is remarkably quiet and peaceful, but the final track, “See, Know,” has a big synth line and drums that are actually kind of noisy—after the sleepiness of the previous tracks, it’s a little jarring, but not unwelcome. The repetition has the same effect as a drone in previous songs, providing a peacefully repetitive canvas for Barwick to work with.

With Will , Barwick has once again created something only she could. It’s a remarkable achievement—in whatever genre she decides to embrace. (www.juliannabarwick.com)

By Ryan E.C. Hamm

Beverly

The Blue Swell (KANINE)

In 2014, Beverly debuted with Careers . It was a collaboration between bandleader Drew Citron and the better-known Frankie Rose, their voices melting together and sounding like one on irresistible cuts such as “Honey Do” and “Madora.” Rose is no longer in Beverly, so instead it’s now Citron and producer Scott Rosenthal (The Beets and Crystal Stilts) at the helm. Somewhat predictably, this second album is slightly more pop-oriented than—and not as harsh-sounding as—Careers , but this plays to Beverly’s and Citron’s considerable melodic strengths. The best track here is “Crooked Cop,” a what-if moment that answers the question of what would happen if Teenage Fanclub had a female singer. Other highlights, and there are many here, include the Kip Berman-penned “Victoria” and “You Used to Be a Good Girl,” a rollicking number with an acidic lyric that could’ve ended up on Careers . Elsewhere, “You Said It” successfully mines the shimmering jangle-pop of The Pernice Brothers and is perhaps the album’s most gorgeous cut, although there is competition from “South Collins,” a shoegaze track that attains Lush-like bliss. (www.kaninerecords.com/beverly)

By Matthew Berlyant

Bibio

A Mineral Love (WARP)

Bibio may not be the biggest name on the Warp roster, but he certainly is one of the choice cuts in any assessment of the legendary label’s line-up. A Mineral Love , the artist’s third full-length installment, sees Bibio focus more on his own talent as a singer. It’s a voice that matches the woozy West Coast aesthetic of his guitar lines, although even those sound less suited to their former stoned California nights and are now closer to ’70s prime-time TV theme tunes. The keys on “Town & Country” and the sax on “Feeling” find a balance between kitsch and funky that is undeniably likeable, Stephen Wilkinson’s voice taking a far more prominent role than we have ever heard before. With more vocals and less in-your-face electronics, this is Wilkinson’s most pop-oriented record and a far more immediate listen as a result.

There are moments where synths have been given too much prominence, and the final product suffers for it. “With the Thought of Us” is the LP’s mid-point, but sticks out like a sore thumb with not a single sunny guitar line in sight. Instead, a soulless and unoriginal club-ready beat remains, almost laughably at odds with the rest of the record. “Why So Serious” suffers from similar problems, but at least retains the ’70s grooves heard elsewhere. While nostalgia has always been a theme in Bibio’s music, it reaches a peak in A Mineral Love , switching between shiny ’80s production and the aforementioned decade’s more laid-back grooves. It doesn’t feel as if Wilkinson has found which of these sounds he prefers yet, meaning that this record never has the consistency to be considered a great rather than good album. (www.warp.net/artists/bibio/)

By Will Moss

Andrew Bird

Are You Serious (LOMA VISTA)

“Get out your dictionaries,” Andrew Bird sings on the title song to his latest solo full-length, an apt line for someone whose lyrics often read like the New York Times crossword puzzle. Through his dozen-plus albums, Bird has used his verbosity as a shield, a way of keeping some distance from the listener. Are You Serious contains some of Bird’s most direct songwriting, as he states later on in the title track, “I’m going to cut to the quick/This is all non-fiction.” Of course, there’s that title, and so the directness carries with it the twitch of a smile.

“How did I ever find you/Now you got me writing love songs/With a common refrain like this one,” he sings on the winking “Left Handed Kisses,” his duet with Fiona Apple, a simple song at first blush but an infinitely complex one upon closer inspection. In spite of the jokes, the sentiment feels very real indeed. “Is it selfish or is it brave?” Bird asks on “Valleys of the Young,” a song about deciding whether or not to have children. Bird describes leaving behind the “land of brunch and misery” and the changes it brings about in friendships. The song is the hardest rocking on the record, with chiming guitars and throbbing drums.

Compare this to the slinky “Truth Lies,” certainly the smoothest groove in Bird’s catalogue, or the stately “Chemical Switches,” which opens with a countdown, followed by a simple guitar and whistling. “The New St. Jude” could have come from Paul Simon’s Graceland , a chirping, funky, galloping tune. Are You Serious contains more modes than songs, a diverse collection held together by Bird’s voice and violin, and the sheer energy of the music. (www.andrewbird.net)

By Jim Scott

Black Mountain

IV (JAGJAGUWAR)

Let’s pause first for a moment to admire that cover ! It looks like something right out of your dad’s box of water-damaged classic rock vinyl, pulled from between AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds and Styx’s Pieces of Eight . This is an album cover that your 13-year-old self could have spent hours mythologizing, with its surreal mishmash of striking imagery that’s equally likely to be full of hidden meaning or full of crap. Damn, they just don’t make them like this anymore. And—for the first time—a Black Mountain record has been paired with artwork that fully and accurately encompasses the contents therein.

is a return to the sprawling retro-rock of 2008’s : an hour-long journey is a compelling rocker—and among the best of the larger Black Mountain Army collective’s releases. (