· jclacking · details
Kate Stables is a one-woman tour-de-force, and this John Parrish production brings her talents to the front. Weird time signatures, off-kilter melodies, and quite inventive arrangements.
“Charmingly abrasive” sounds like an oxymoron, but it is certainly something that describes music like this, angular sounds and a distraught female voice rambling on about blue tits, and I don’t think she means birds.
The female vocals have a child-like quality, and the bass-forward music hulks behind it, sometimes like a princess’ bodyguard, sometimes like a delicate clockwork contraption.
Out of many odd cover-filled releases bands have ejected over the last year-plus, this is one of the most disparate and interesting, partly from the selections and the interstitial music, but mostly because it’s not what you expect from black midi.
Understated but solid set of songs with a strong female vocal presence. There’s a loving interlocking of guitar, bass, and keyboard lines that gives the music a rich and interesting texture.
lacking.org