-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Sea Oleena
Album...: Shallow
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Ambient, Drone, Ethereal, Modern Classical
LABEL....: Lefse SCENE.....: 2015-06-15
BITRATE..: 784 kbps avg STORE.....: 2014-00-00
ENCODER..: FLAC 1.2.1 -8 -V TRACKS....: 7
SIZE.....: 240.4MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: https://seaoleena.bandcamp.com
- TRACKLIST
1 If I'm 5:11
2 Shallow 7:23
3 To Hold 4:00
4 Shades Of Golden 5:27
5 Everyone With Eyes Closed 4:38
6 Vinton, LA 11:24
7 Paths 4:59
Total Playtime: 43:02
Charlotte Loseth comes across as the type of songwriter who perfects
something, then runs like hell away from it. Take "Milk", from her lovely
2011 record as Sea Oleena, Sleeplessness: the song cuts sharp trip-hop edges
with open-air instrumentation and a whisper of tape hiss, while bass notes
played on piano loom against Loseth's spiraling vocal layers. It could be a
long-lost cousin to Massive Attack's "Teardrop", hookless but sticky, full of
breath and dust instead of computerized shine. Shallow, Loseth's third
release as Sea Oleena and her first full-length, sheds everything that ticked
about "Milk"ùthe beats, the hard lines, the resolutionsùinstead skirting easy
answers and quick release, grasping at something more patient, sad, and
subtle.
*
Working under the name Sea Oleena, Montreal native Charlotte Loseth released
a pair of sleepy yet beguiling mini albums that inhabited a dream world
similar to artists like Julianna Barwick and Grouper back in 2010 and 2011.
The strength of those two releases caused enough ripples to land her on the
roster of Oregon-based indie Lefse Records, who have released her full-length
debut, 2014's Shallow. Shrouded in a mist of gentle ambience and netherworld
textures, her morphine-drip paeans still rely on structure and strong
melodies to get where they're going. Produced by her brother Luke Loseth (the
two siblings also have a band together called Holobody), Shallow's gentle
melancholia somehow manages to convey an inspired mix of mystery and beauty
rather than outright sadness. This is an important distinction, as this type
of slow-building, experimental pop can often become too dreary and oppressive
when laid on too thick. The fact that the album's cover is a photo of a
bleeding hand is a slightly misleading red flag as the music is far more
thoughtful and romantic than it is doleful. Deftly picked electric guitar and
robust strings are the primary tools of Loseth's trade, though they are
tempered throughout with subtle percussion, piano, and lush synths, all
supporting her lovely crystalline voice which is often stacked in heavily
reverbed harmonies. Opener and lead single "If I'm," with its spooky
Portishead-inspired beat, offers the quickest pulse on this understated album
which at times channels the sweet dream pop of the Cocteau Twins and the
black lodge haze of Julee Cruise, minus the Lynchian kitsch. Best enjoyed as
one long piece, it's tough to pick standouts on this finely crafted album,
which flows effortlessly together throughout its seven lengthy tracks. While
not a seasonal record, Loseth's affection for the waning months of autumn is
apparent and fans of that deep, slow-roasted October wistfulness will want to
lose themselves in this elegant collection.
Shallow diffuses the same pale light that's characterized Sea Oleena so far,
as Loseth makes space to apply her textural instincts toward more ambitious
tensions. The album crests on her longest track to date, "Vinton, LA", which
shivers through its 11 minutes on nothing but piano, strings, voice, and the
effects that multiply them. Loseth spaces out her syllables, letting the
lyrics swell and hang loose as another ambient texture until the listener's
able to stitch them together. Acclimate to her syntax, and the song reveals a
furtive unease in its calm. "I was alone and so overwhelmed," she sings, the
last word's three syllables ballooning into a canopy. She sings about
swimming in the ocean, swallowing its salt, losing the self but keeping its
shadow, all while cellos low beneath her words.
As a whole, Shallow runs dense with "ifs": its opening track, "If I'm", tips
its lyrics with its title as the strongest beat on the album supplies a
smooth bridge between it and Sleeplessness. "If I'm the forest, you're the
field at my feet," she sings. "If I'm the corner that the dark backs into/
You're the darkness that this corner clings to." Slowly, in the patterns she
repeats through her lyrics, Loseth builds an ambient narrative that's shy
enough to drift right past on cursory listens. She exploits the dynamics
inherent in the imagery of darkness versus light, mountains versus seas,
forests versus fields. There is pain locked deep inside this albumùwhich,
ironically, comes across as a balm from pain, as though the only way to sing
out the darknesses was to soothe them at the same time.
On the cover of Shallow, someone beckons away from the camera with a bloodied
finger, a red bracelet on her wrist, or maybe a thin wound where the blood
came from. It's an unsettling image, and Shallow possesses a similar unease.
On the record's closing track, "Paths", Loseth repeats the line, "yours is a
path I'd like to cross." It's a love song, and a song about submission, need,
brokenness, and pain. Sea Oleena dissolves hurt and comfort into the same
mist, and never once flinches at how close they swirl to each other.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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