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artist.....: Laurel Halo
album......: Chance Of Rain
year.......: 2013
label......: Hyperdub
HDBCD0021PROMO
source.....: CDDA
moodswing..: Electronic
releasesize: 68.43 MB
tracks.....: 09
length.....: 44:23
encoder....: VBR LAME 3.98.4 -v0
quality....: avg. 209kbps
scenealized: 03.19.2015
The chief talking point that emerged
from Laurel Halo's excellent debut
album, Quarantine, was Halo's decision
to emphasize her vocals. It seemed a
hard left turn for an artist who,
through a spate of EPs, had practiced
obfuscation, both in her music and in
her public persona. Halo's releases
since Quarantine can be read as a
reaction to that album and its
reception, as she has steadily
retreated from that album's vocally
oriented post-popùand the transparent
artistic agency that it impliedùinto
the harsh instrumental strictures of
techno. Her second album, the dynamic,
bracing Chance of Rain, continues this
transition, further mussing her
artistic motives via industrial rhythms
and corrosive synth textures.
The music on Chance of Rain defies easy
placementùprobably on purpose. It
flickers between 90s-era IDM fussiness,
warped hypnagogic sentimentality, and
actual club music meant to inspire
dancing. Sometimes it stops, mid-songù
as on the title trackùto wade through a
pretty, jazzy piano melody, only to
later return to its choppy, crunching
kick drum attacks. This sense of
placelessness, its ability to obscure
its purpose and cloak its creator,
defines Chance of Rain. It's a Laurel
Halo album in name; when it plays you
don't spend much time thinking about
its creator or her motives.
Two pretty, jazzy piano pieces bookend
Chance of Rain, reminding us of the
oft-repeated fact that Halo is a
formally trained musician. In between,
Chance of Rain is a near constant churn
of effects and shifting rhythms,
frequently interrupting itself to
wander in new directions. The longer
tracksù"Oneiroi" and "Thrax" in
particularùare stop-and-start affairs
whose tough beats resist momentum.
There's a crankiness to Chance of Rain,
as noxious, cloudy chords hover above
even the most motive tracks ("Ainnome",
"Serendip"). Tonally, Chance of Rain is
peers with the hoary machine music
being churned out by the L.I.E.S.
label, but there's an odd iridescence
to Halo's work not found in other
noisy, underground dance music.
When Chance of Rain slows down, as on
the perplexing "Still/Dromos" or
"Melt", it feels industrial, chemical
in its potency. There's an undiluted
quality to the sounds Halo conjures,
and its 44 minute runtime requires some
endurance. Frequently ugly, Chance of
Rain doesn't court affection, and it's
hard to nestle up to something that's
continually slew-footing you.
Quarantine was a difficult listen
because it sounded as if Halo was right
in your ear; on Chance of Rain she only
appears to chop at your knees before
dashing back into the shadows.
Halo spoke to Wire magazine about
becoming more comfortable as a
producer; Chance of Rain sees her place
her gnarly sounds front and center, the
way Quarantine did with her voice. The
result is still unnerving, though in a
more subtle way (no one is likely to
tell Halo her synthesizers are too
loud, or not tuneful enough). When the
album finds a moment of peaceùlike when
the title track dissolves into a
simple, noir-ish outroùit feels forged.
Craggy and hard as hell, you'll wish
Chance of Rain forged a few more such
moments, but its consistent, nagging
ability to knock you off balance is
worth wrestling with.
psst, more info at hyperdub.net
01 Dr. Echt 01:40
02 Oneiroi 07:36
03 Serendip 06:31
04 Chance Of Rain 07:38
05 Melt 02:23
06 Still Dromos 03:52
07 Thrax 05:57
08 Ainnome 07:16
09 Out 01:30