Album Reviews: Lucy Dacus, La NIÑA, Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – IC-02 Bogotá
Auckland, New Zealand/Portland, OR

While they’ve taken a bit of a step back and forth between explorative, pop and simply jamming on records, Unknown Mortal Orchestra have never settled into any one place for long. While their latest album hones in purely on instrumentals, they find a way to paint entire dimensions with these sounds that will hopefully help their more pop-focused endeavours evolve in the future. From its frantic beats to lo-fi hums and bobs, “Earth 1” really shuffles with the sound of a busy city, but eventually hits a melodic high through its searching keyboard lines that keep the musical core of the song alive, and elevates it from simply becoming a well-produced jam. There’s a more jazzy and smoky club tone to “Earth 3” as the band throw up a drunken blur into the vibe of the record leave you wandering through backstreets in your mind. Apart from other tracks that border on muzak-lite, “Earth 5” has a genuine grind and tension to its groove, letting each beam-like hook cut like a knife and sending your soul to the moon. The textures of “Underworld 4” really bring out something transcendant in the mix, with every shattering drum and weird frigid bell transporting you to a dangerous futuristic world.

Casper Skulls – Dying in Eight Verses (Single)
Toronto

Neil Bednis is back in the vocal chair on Casper Skulls’ latest single, walking us through every stage of life as the band rounds a corner on their own lives. Loss and living on takes centre stage here, with Bednis seems caught between the line of joining rallying cry and slipping into obscurity. The child of our two lead singers is a clear influence on this latest track, not only as they elaborate on parenthood, but take an overall look at how easily time washes over you. The musical charge here is worth exploring in its own right, as the guitars and simple riff provides a comforting, warm callback to keep reminding yourself of. But it’s in that growing range of shrieks, harmonic riffs and small shifts in the drums that the track finds a sonic way to bring this aging feeling to the music itself.

Lucy Dacus – Forever Is a Feeling
Mechanicsville, VA

It’s already been a big year personally for Lucy Dacus, but this new album certainly keeps her celebrating strong. Listening to this latest album, it’s not surprising she’s made musical friendships with both Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift, because she sits at a sonic place between the two that’s deeply personal, sonically rich, but never too inaccessible or alternatively too predictable. “Ankles” has a powerful momentum from the outset that makes it easy to get caught up in its romance, but the dazzling string and echoing guitar (or perhaps harpsichord) tones take it to a lush, magical place. The brash beats of “Talk” launch it into an eerie and slowly explosive place, as Dacus lets her emotions out one at a time, until the fire is all-consuming. “Best Guess” has a subtle but charming love song to it, with its bones letting Dacus colour in so many heartwarming timbres that will get a grin starting all over your face. The cold howl in the background of “Bullseye” is its secret weapon, with the trade-off between Hozier and Dacus just adding to that hunter’s instinct to say what you need and make your mark.

Daffo – Quick Fix (Single)
Brooklyn

In a melancholic sway of guitars and teary strings, Daffo puts us through our paces in their latest single. Though there are certainly Big Thief comparisons to be made, Daffo soon moves to darker and more cosmic territory on this single. The slightly warped approach to the vocals here is deeply affecting, giving its already bleak tones a devastating extra layer that is self-aware, yet powerless. While this could all be read as a personal lament, the song equally opens itself up to be about consumer culture, fast fashion and how easily we poison ourselves for convenience. In its most hollowed out feelings, Daffo’s ability to let the background roars and whispers elevate the track show a quiet mastery over their music that few would take the time to hash out.

La NIÑA – FURÈSTA
Napoli, Italy

While we don’t always get a chance to hear as many non-English artists West of the Atlantic, La NIÑA is offering an argument for why we need to more and more. With a multicultural dance of melodies and rhythms that feel as Italian as they do a bit of all over Europe, this is truly a beautiful reflection of the shocking melanges we can get as we move further and further away from monoculture. There’s a feeling of being pulled into massive street performance on “Guapparia” in the way the ambient noise pulls you in, while the frantic strumming and electric yelping turns the track into an unyielding punch out from the soul. The production is a constantly evolving beast on “Tremm’” with percussion swapping between a bubbling engine and firecrackers, as the song itself morphs from quiet proclamations to an all-out belt! The real attack comes on “Figlia D’ ‘A Tempesta” with a kinetic fury of drums, and such a swirling front of voices and riffs that you’ll want to find a few people to replicate this sound at home for yourself just to get the chants right. After a moody buildup, “Pica Pica” opens up into the albums shimmering finale, with so many glowing mandolins and harmonies that you’ll be blasted in awe of its bright sound.

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